


Tell Me You Want Me Around (Tell Me I'm Yours)

by baeconandeggs, singilu



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: BAE2017, M/M, Rimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 11:15:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/singilu/pseuds/singilu
Summary: Chanyeol is everywhere: in Baekhyun's bed, at the top of his most used contacts list, locked in with him in a recording studio. So what will it take for Baekhyun to let Chanyeol into his heart, too?





	Tell Me You Want Me Around (Tell Me I'm Yours)

**Author's Note:**

> Author: anonymous  
> Prompt#: 510  
> Title: Tell me you want me around (tell me I'm yours)  
> Word Count: 23k  
> Side Pairing(s): Kyungsoo/Joohyun (Irene)  
> Rating: NC-17  
> Warning(s):rimming  
> Disclaimer: The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
> Author's Note: Thank you to the mods for even posting this and to C and R for all their invaluable help and guidance without which this would have never been finished.

Even if Chanyeol didn't have any other qualities, the way his tongue is all sloppy, hot, and wet against Baekhyun's rim would make up for it. Not that Chanyeol doesn't have any other qualities; he's always so eager, his big hands are so good, and his cock is just the right size. It stretches Baekhyun's lips until the corners of his mouth sting the right way, fills Baekhyun so well he feels it long after he's left Chanyeol soundly asleep in his bed.  
  
It doesn't hurt that Chanyeol is so devastatingly hot when he wants to be, but also sweet, hilarious, and kind. He's also absolutely capable of feeding Baekhyun on the rare occasion he stays until breakfast and not so rare occasions he ends up in Chanyeol's flat for just dinner, movie and video games or some other random excuse. Baekhyun just really likes his food.  
  
None of that matters right now, just the fact that Chanyeol's tongue is absolutely wonderful and he knows just how to eat Baekhyun out. Baekhyun groans, face pushed into Chanyeol's soft, freshly smelling pillow, fingers curled around the edges, as Chanyeol's tongue laps around the rim again then pushes in. This is Chanyeol's best quality. Chanyeol hums, his long fingers closing around Baekhyun's thighs, and Baekhyun pushes further back against his mouth.  
  
They'd both come earlier already, not so long ago either, but Chanyeol had run his palm across Baekhyun's ass afterwards, as if fondly thanking it or something as cheesy, and Baekhyun knows Chanyeol would actually say something like that too. Baekhyun had moaned in reply and the next thing he knew, he was on his knees and hands and Chanyeol was kissing across his ass cheeks, spreading them open for his tongue to easily lick into Baekhyun.  
  
"You're going to come?" Chanyeol breathes now, pad of what must be his thumb pressing against the rim as he scrapes his teeth right where Baekhyun's thigh and ass meet. "Just from my tongue." It's smug and so pleased.  
  
"No," Baekhyun lies and tries to reign in the hot pleasure spreading through him, just for a little longer. His knuckles are white from how hard he's clutching the pillow.  
  
Chanyeol chuckles, right over where Baekhyun's skin is warm and slick, and then leans down again, tongue flicking in and out of Baekhyun, firm and fast, the thumb still pressing down at the rim and the other four fingers of Chanyeol's right hand squeezing around the globe of Baekhyun's ass.  
  
"Liar," Chanyeol breathes, and then it's enough for him to push his tongue into Baekhyun one more time before Baekhyun moans, his body shuddering against his will, his knees giving up. He comes, rutting against the cover of Chanyeol's bed as Chanyeol sucks at Baekhyun's sensitive skin, the puckered muscles clenching around nothing.  
  
"Fuck," Baekhyun swears, feeling sweat cool on his back quickly, barely able to move. Chanyeol collapses next to him, _nuzzling_ his nose into Baekhyun's neck where his hair sticks to it, and laughs heartily. With anyone else, Baekhyun might think it's a bit too intimate for some fun between the sheets, but with Chanyeol, he's used to it. Chanyeol's always been a cuddler, from the very first time they did this. It's just that.  
  
"You need me to--?" Baekhyun mumbles into the pillow.  
  
"Nah," Chanyeol rolls, half covering Baekhyun with his own body. Baekhyun can feel his cock, hard, pressing into his side. "I think I'm good. You were just so tense so I figured...It's better now." Now Baekhyun's body is jello, all jiggly and soft and moving in waves with Chanyeol's breath.  
  
"Good," he manages to say, tries for a bit of cheek. He's so tired and this is Chanyeol. He can stay the night. Chanyeol, who knows that Baekhyun's had a bad day from Baekhyun solely texting him that he wants Chanyeol's wonderful cock up his own wonderful ass, is okay to stay the night with. Chanyeol knows it means nothing, nothing but that Baekhyun is tired. And a little too comfortable, pressed into the sheets, with the weight of a slumbering Chanyeol above him, to go anywhere.  
  


~

  
  
"I'm hungry," Baekhyun mumbles as he shuffles out of Chanyeol's bed and bedroom. His eyes are barely open, and he almost bumps into Chanyeol who has his electric piano out, playing a song Baekhyun's never heard before. "Yours?" he asks, humming to the tune of it.  
  
"Yeah," Chanyeol smiles. "Just something I thought of this morning."  
  
"Did you actually get out of bed to try and play it?" It's so Chanyeol, music twenty-four seven. Sometimes Baekhyun wonders if he ever has anything else in his head, on his mind. "It's nice though."  
  
It really is, and Baekhyun stands by Chanyeol, watching his fingers move across the keys and humming absentmindedly. Chanyeol's amazing on guitar, but he's not the best piano player. It's not about that right now though. Chanyeol starts singing along with Baekhyun, just a harmony to his humming, and it startles Baekhyun a bit. He moves away, his throat dry, voice still not properly woken up. Before he gets anywhere though, he finds himself sitting on Chanyeol's lap, with Chanyeol's arms on both of his sides, still playing. It was Chanyeol who pulled him, really hard, but it's Baekhyun who feels a little winded.  
  
"Sing a little longer," Chanyeol says, his chin digging into Baekhyun's shoulder. There's so much skin touching skin though. Baekhyun's just pulled his boxers on when rolling off the bed, and Chanyeol didn't bother with a t-shirt either, even if he has found loose sweats before walking out here. Chanyeol's now alarmingly firm chest is pressed against Baekhyun's back, and Baekhyun knows Chanyeol's been working out, that he isn't the lanky, tall beanstalk he was when they met anymore. Chanyeol's shoulders are now broad and his arms are strong, his stomach firm, but it's still somehow unfair. Baekhyun's heart hammers, just because it's uncomfortably warm like this and he can't concentrate on singing either, his voice coming out all wrong when he's this squished.  
  
"Feed me," he whines, wriggling on Chanyeol's knees until Chanyeol has to let him move away, or else he'd fall back. "I'm so hungry," Baekhyun repeats.  
  
"You're such a glutton," Chanyeol laughs as he shakes his head.  
  
"Breakfast is important." Breakfast at Chanyeol's is also the best Baekhyun could have.  
  
Chanyeol gets up obediently now, and Baekhyun watches his back as he moves into the kitchen and reaches for the rice cooker.  
  
"You should send some of your stuff to us. I could, you know, show it to people, ask around. Actually, Kyungsoo would probably sing it, honestly." It's not the first time Baekhyun's thought about it, though he may have never actually blurted it out.  
  
"Maybe I should." Chanyeol shrugs. "Maybe I shouldn't. Don't worry about it."  
  
"Your stuff is good though. I mean don't you want to get your music played on radios too?"  
  
"That's just your infatuation talking, Baekhyunnie. I'm nothing special. Just wait till you sober up," Chanyeol says, playfully poking Baekhyun's cheek.  
  
"I'm not infatuated," Baekhyun says quickly. His neck is getting kind of hot, and he wishes he had put that t-shirt on after all. "I'm just a good friend. I want to help."  
  
Chanyeol's smile gets a little wider, and he's quiet for a second too long, and Baekhyun wonders if he's said something--  
  
"I promise I won't tell Kyungsoo you wanted to sell him out in the name of our wonderful friendship," Chanyeol says then though, pulling Baekhyun in for a playful kiss, and Baekhyun forgets where that thought was going. This, after all, is why he didn't bother with the t-shirt.  
  


~

  
  
"I heard one of your future stars got into trouble," Kyungsoo says to Baekhyun on Monday, when Baekhyun comes to check on him in the recording studio.  
  
"They're all young and stupid. Go online a bit too much. It'll be fine," Baekhyun shrugs, playing with the controls on the soundboard a bit before finally hitting replay on what Kyungsoo just recorded. "You sound tired," he notes.  
  
Kyungsoo elbows him as he sits next to him on the technician's chair. "Don't change the subject. You're taking this rather calmly."  
  
"What's the point of being upset?" Baekhyun shrugs. He plays the song again, ignoring Kyungsoo giving him a weird look. "Did you ever consider singing something Chanyeol made? I mean not necessarily as a single, but maybe one of the tracks on your album or something."  
  
"Ah," Kyungsoo says, and when Baekhyun purposefully rewinds the part of the recording where Kyungsoo went flat for like a second, Kyungsoo pushes against him until Baekhyun is sitting on the floor instead of sharing a chair with Kyungsoo, looking up at Kyungsoo with a pout. Kyungsoo looks a bit more alive than when Baekhyun came in and forced him into the break though, so his butt can be the sacrifice.  
  
"What do you mean by _ah_ , D.O.-shi?" he asks anyway.  
  
"Nothing," Kyungsoo shakes his head, but he looks so amused, and a little like he's plotting something Baekhyun will not like. "Just that I understand now why you're being so tame and adult about Yeongho's mess. You had your Chanyeol fix this weekend."  
  
Baekhyun only laughs. "Yeah, I mean he has his virtues," he says, winking.  
  
Kyungsoo stays unimpressed. "Because Chanyeol's dick is why you keep going back for more."  
  
"Well, there's also his mouth and his fingers and those huge hands. Kyungsoo, don't tell me you've never thought about it. You've known him _much_ longer than I have."  
  
It gives Baekhyun great joy when Kyungsoo goes red around him. It is worth the kick to his shin.  
  
"You're an idiot, and I _really_ didn't need to know all that."  
  
Baekhyun's just thinking what else to share without giving away too much about his own attachment to all of Chanyeol's abilities to please when the sound technician comes back.  
  
"I better go," he says instead.  
  
Kyungsoo actually helps him up.  
  
"I'm having dinner with Soo Man on Friday. Do you want to come? Maybe bring your favorite cub out? It can't hurt for Soo Man to start learning their names."  
  
Baekhyun raises an eyebrow. Kyungsoo is being very charitable. It'd be almost suspicious, if Baekhyun didn't know Kyungsoo's very fond of Baekhyun's "cubs" too. Only Baekhyun can't figure out if it's because he feels nostalgic of his pre-debut days when he sees them or because he hopes they debut soon enough so he can take a break and maybe finally enlist so people will stop throwing it in his face that he hasn't done it yet. Either way Baekhyun kind of has plans. Chanyeol mentioned a One Piece marathon, and Baekhyun may be old, but he will never be too old for One Piece.  
  
"Ugh," he says. It shouldn't be this difficult to cancel on Chanyeol. Chanyeol of all people will understand. He always listens to Baekhyun rant, and he's been there through all of Kyungsoo's public years. He knows how important connections are and that this is the first time for Baekhyun to be the main manager in charge of a group. "I kind of promised Chanyeol I'd help him with lyrics," he gets out. He isn't lying. Only it was Baekhyun who suggested it, and Chanyeol just beamed at him and didn't say no.  
  
"Right," Kyungsoo deadpans. "Chanyeol. Of course. Are you planning on writing them with his dick?"  
  
Baekhyun laughs, just when the technician goes so red that maybe they should be a little worried for him. "That's a good idea," he sing-songs as he waves good-bye.  
  
"Tell your boyfriend that he should stop by and see me sometimes," Kyungsoo shouts after him when Baekhyun's already half out the door.  
  
"He's not--" Kyungsoo lifts his hand to stop Baekhyun, his eyes judging.  
  
"Go away and don't come back until you stop lying," he says, and then he personally strides across the studio and shuts the door on Baekhyun.  
  
Well, Kyungsoo's clearly in a better mood, so Baekhyun's mission has been achieved. He texts Yunho about that, and wonders why Kyungsoo has to keep grilling him on how he acts around Chanyeol and what they are and what they aren't. They're just friends. Well, okay friends with some really nice benefits, but it's not like Chanyeol minds that he's Baekhyun's favorite hook up. He's never been bothered by it, not the first time Baekhyun kissed him and then pulled him into the bar bathroom so they could pull each other off, not any other time Baekhyun came back for more fun. It's always been just that, so why is Kyungsoo so invested in making it more?  
  


~

  
  
This is the third Friday Baekhyun is spending on Chanyeol's couch watching anime. No adult, or human for that matter, marathons all of One Piece over just one weekend. Even if things didn't get in the way. Chanyeol chuckles at something going on screen and his arm around Baekhyun's shoulder tightens a bit. For all intents and purposes, they're cuddling. Baekhyun's arm is squished behind Chanyeol's back and his palm is under Chanyeol's hoodie, and Chanyeol's nose is more in his hair than out of it. It's warm and comfortable, and Baekhyun would like to think this is what good friends do on Friday evenings, but he can still feel Kyungsoo's annoying, judgmental eyes on him.  
  
Chanyeol is about two minutes from falling asleep. From what he told Baekhyun over their take out dinner, he's been shut in a studio, recording and rerecording two songs all week, and anyone else would be frustrated. Chanyeol though only collapsed on his couch, pulled Baekhyun down and sighed in happiness. And that should be okay; Baekhyun's just helping him unwind. So what if Chanyeol's happy enough with Japanese anime and the heat of Baekhyun's body pressing into his side?  
  
"I can hear you thinking," Chanyeol mutters, and Baekhyun realizes he's tensed considerably and his hand is now more pinching Chanyeol's side than rubbing it, like it had been doing before. "What's up?" Chanyeol probes more, sitting up a little better. Baekhyun slides down, off the couch to kneel between Chanyeol's thighs.  
  
"Nothing much," he says, smirking up at Chanyeol as he drags his hand up his inner thigh. Chanyeol raises an eyebrow, trying to look unimpressed, but Baekhyun knows better, can recognize the hitch in his next inhale. He hooks his fingers under the waistband of Chanyeol's loose sweats and pulls down. "Hi," he leers a little.  
  
"One Piece isn't keeping you entertained I see," Chanyeol mumbles, and his hand slides across Baekhyun's jaw and into his hair. The unease that was about to settle in Baekhyun's stomach is gone, replaced by the slowly rising heat. Chanyeol's thumb runs across Baekhyun's bottom lip, and Baekhyun wraps his fingers around Chanyeol's cock. It is a very nice one, thick and long, and so good for Baekhyun.  
  
"I tend to think I'm better fun than Japanese cartoons," he breathes, and then he presses Chanyeol's now half hard cock into his stomach, leaning in to lick a stripe up until the tip of it."  
  
Chanyeol's laughter is breathless, and his stomach clenches. "That you sure are," he says, and his fingers pull on Baekhyun's hair. They both know Baekhyun likes that.  
  
Chanyeol knows a lot of things Baekhyun likes, and so when Baekhyun moans around his cock, now hard and hot against his tongue, Chanyeol pushes his hips up, just a little, keeping Baekhyun's head in place with a steady hand. Baekhyun digs his nails into Chanyeol's skinny bare thighs, and Chanyeol does it again, and again, faster and sure, moaning Baekhyun's name in his low breathy voice. Baekhyun's teeth scrape Chanyeol's cock a little the next time Chanyeol pushes up, now fucking Baekhyun's mouth smoothly, and Chanyeol comes, body stilling as Baekhyun sucks him through it. It's such a thrill to make Chanyeol go this boneless underneath him.  
  
"Come here," Chanyeol croaks, pulling Baekhyun off his cock and hissing at the purposeful tight drag of Baekhyun's lips around his sensitive head. Baekhyun goes willingly, straddling Chanyeol and going in for a kiss, deep and dirty. He's so hard, his jeans only just open, and Chanyeol's fingers are quick and efficient in pulling Baekhyun's cock out, gripping it a bit too tight as he starts stroking. Chanyeol sucks at Baekhyun's tongue the entire time Baekhyun writhes against him, and it's over way too soon, but it feels good, so good, even if Baekhyun is in dire need of a shower and about a week of sleep. He slumps against Chanyeol's chest, tries to request that shower, but he's falling asleep too fast, too content.  
  
"Baby," he thinks he hears, but he doesn't figure out if there was any mockery there or just endearment. Chanyeol's heart still beats a bit too quickly as Baekhyun loses the last dredges of consciousness for the night.  
  


~

  
  
Kyungsoo's called Chanyeol the B-word about four times in the past week. Baekhyun is kind of upset with him for meddling.  
  
"Does Chanyeol complain to you?" he asked the last time, instead of denying it.  
  
"He doesn't have to," Kyungsoo said and left the room.  
  
Baekhyun wishes Kyungsoo would stop being fucking cryptic and pushy. It does not suit him. It doesn't help that suddenly everyone's in on whatever Baekhyun's missing because now he's sitting at a bar and listening to it again, with Chanyeol pressed into his side even. It was pure damn chance that they met at the front door and thus arrived together, to see Jongin, Soojung, and Sehun toasting.  
  
"Ah, the lovebirds," Jongin coos at them, and he doesn't drop it. "I used to admire Baekhyun-hyung for how he could pick up anyone he wanted, but now he's become boring," he says, and Soojung is giving him an unimpressed look.  
  
"I can still pick up whoever I want," Baekhyun says dryly. Sehun fidgets and looks at Chanyeol. What the fuck is wrong with everyone.  
  
"Sure you can, only you don't want anyone else but Chanyeol," Jongin continues. Baekhyun is pretty sure Soojung just elbowed him. "You always end up going back to him, always."  
  
"Why is who I go out with suddenly everyone's business?" Baekhyun asks. "I didn't know you all followed my sex life so closely." So what if Baekhyun likes fooling around. Since when did his friends care this much?  
  
"It's okay. I don't mind being your favorite," Chanyeol says cheerfully, throwing his arm around Baekhyun, and looking at him with a tiny conspiratorial smile. Baekhyun knows he's only trying to defuse the situation, close the topic that's been going around the table since they came in _together_. But right now, that's not what Baekhyun wants. He doesn't want to be appeased, and Chanyeol's arm around his shoulders just makes it look like he's stupidly denying something that he shouldn't. He shrugs Chanyeol off and just as he does, he feels his shin sting in pain. Someone kicked him under the table and he's not sure if it was intentional or not, but he's not having fun.  
  
He came to have fun, drink a beer or five, dance, maybe make out a little, and not necessarily with Chanyeol. He came to catch up with Jongin, who's too busy with his dance troupe, and with Sehun, who might be choreographing more for SM than for anyone else these days, but Baekhyun hasn't seen him in ages. Instead, what he's getting is the same pushy meddling he's been getting from Kyungsoo, and it's very unwarranted.  
  
"Let's dance," Soojung says then to Jongin, pulling on him rather forcibly, and Baekhyun feels it might be for his benefit, so that Jongin doesn't run his mouth anymore. Jongin turns to her, and smiles, love sick, and goes easily, despite her calling him an idiot repeatedly as he slides his palms to her hips and pushes her towards the dance floor.  
  
"I want to dance too," Baekhyun says then, and slips out of their booth quickly. He knows it takes Chanyeol more than one drink to get on the dance floor and he figures he doesn't have to wait until then.  
  
When he looks back, Chanyeol is looking into his empty glass and shaking his head to something Sehun is saying to him. He runs his palms down his thighs and looks away. Maybe he should lay off his Chanyeol fix for a while, at least until their friends find someone else to matchmake. A pretty girl smiles at him, as he pushes around her, trying to get closer to the middle of the dance floor, and he figures that's an opening right there. He slides his hand down her back and when she presses into his touch, he decides to stay here and dance with her.  
  
It's fun for a while, it always is, and she presses closer, whispers her name into his ear and her lips brush against his jaw as she leans back to smile at him. The shiver that runs down his spine isn't as pleasant as he expected it to be. He pulls her closer, tries to breathe in her flowery scent, but it doesn't help. There's nothing but the early observation about her being pretty and petite. There's no pull beyond that of her fingers on his hand, trying to get him to a darker corner of the bar.  
  
"Sorry," he mutters, giving her an easy smile. "I think I need to go check on my friends. I don't want them to leave me here."  
  
She pouts but lets go easily, no hurt feelings, all in good fun, and Baekhyun returns to their booth, slightly confused by what just happened.  
  
Sehun's talking to someone in a suit, but stops to glare a little when Baekhyun approaches.  
  
"Where's everyone?" he asks. He's been gone for maybe an hour, not more.  
  
"Jongin and Soojung went to 'take a breather' and Chanyeol left," Sehun replies.  
  
"Hi, you must be Baekhyun," the man in the suit says. He looks very out of place here. He is clearly here for Sehun though, Baekhyun realizes when he notices Sehun's hand rubbing on his inner thigh.  
  
"Already?" Baekhyun asks Sehun then realizes he's being kind of rude to Sehun's company. "Ah yes, I am," he adds on fast.  
  
"I'm Junmyeon," the man says.  
  
"He's my accountant," Sehun says flatly. "Yes already, he wasn't feeling too well."  
  
Chanyeol looked fine when Baekhyun left him. He also looked _fine_ , and if Jongin hadn't started teasing Baekhyun, then maybe Baekhyun would be making out with him because on most days Chanyeol is the greatest thing a bar scene can offer.  
  
"An accountant?" he asks instead, highly doubtful, pulling out his phone to check on Chanyeol.  
  
Sehun shrugs. "Be careful not to read too much into things that aren't there," he says. Junmyeon soothes his hand down Sehun's arm, squeezing his wrist a little.  
  
"Well, I do Sehunnie's accounting for free, out of love," he says, but he's paying more attention to Sehun than Baekhyun, pressing their thighs a bit closer together where Baekhyun can see.  
  
Chanyeol's not replying to Baekhyun's instant messages. Maybe he was just really tired and went to sleep. Chanyeol rarely does so before midnight, but if he wasn't feeling well...  
  
"Good for you," he says in the general direction of Sehun and Junmyeon, distracted. Junmyeon laughs into Sehun's neck. "I'm going to go," Baekhyun announces in the end.  
  
He's waved off, Sehun looking much softer now that Junmyeon's holding his hand, and it leaves Baekhyun a little wistful as he goes. He shoots another message to Chanyeol and wonders how it happened that he's leaving alone and this early.  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol is sick for over a week. Probably. Baekhyun's sent a few messages and only got "I'm fine. It's nothing serious" in reply. However, Chanyeol normally texts him even without prompting and he hasn't done that so maybe he's made light of the bug he caught. Baekhyun is going to bring him some vitamins next time he goes over...for the One Piece marathon. He puts his phone away and looks up just in time for Kyungsoo to drop down opposite of him with a tiny salad. Baekhyun doubts anyone is actually forcing Kyungsoo into diet before comeback, it's still kind of far away and Kyungsoo is tiny, but habits are like iron shirts or something.  
  
Kyungsoo doesn't touch the salad, instead pulls his own phone out and starts playing with it. Baekhyun feels strangely vindicated because he seems to be hoping it would chime.  
  
"Still no hot date with Bae Joohyun?" he asks, and Kyungsoo's glare is so strong Baekhyun remembers that story about Chanyeol getting actual goosebumps from it a few times when they just met.  
  
"Don't pretend you're any better," Kyungsoo says and stabs a tomato.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Chanyeol's not texting, is he?"  
  
"Well, I guess he's still sick, but it's not like… were you watching me before coming over?"  
  
Kyungsoo looks frozen for a second. "Yeah sure," he deadpans then. "I was riveted by the image of you demolishing the curry."  
  
"I wasn't demolishing it," Baekhyun protests. "It's not very good curry."  
  
"Chanyeol makes one better, right?" Kyungsoo's currently very bushy eyebrows are so high Baekhyun almost can't see them.  
  
And, well, yes, Baekhyun was just thinking that, but so what? Chanyeol is a good cook.  
  
"I suppose," he shrugs. Kyungsoo looks at his phone, then at his salad, then at his phone again right as it beeps.  
  
"I don't have time for this," he throws at Baekhyun, picking up his things and leaving.  
  
Baekhyun watches him go then looks down at his still untouched food. He wasn't demolishing it. Yet again he feels like he's missing something. There's no time to dwell on it though because his group should have been back in rehearsals ten minutes ago and he needs to go and collect them from the various corners where they're hiding, probably napping.  
  
_Can't do the One Piece thing this weekend,_ Chanyeol texts at last.  
  
_Probably for the best. What if your flat is still a germ nest and I caught whatever plague you had? Two weeks, Chanyeol. Are you sure you aren't dying?_  
  
He waits for Chanyeol to tell him he'd gladly give him his germs in person or ask him if Baekhyun would miss him, but the reply takes forever and only says:  
  
_No. I don't think so._  
  
_Good. What if I missed you?_  
  
_You won't get rid of me so easily, Baekhyunnie. I'd come haunt you._  
  
Baekhyun laughs out loud. He feels lighter as he heads towards the practice rooms.  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol pushes Baekhyun away when he tries to make out with him between two episodes of One Piece over a week later. Baekhyun is buzzing with nerves and all the bottled up frustration he didn't want to show to his trainees. He figures this would help because Chanyeol always helps no matter what he gives to Baekhyun. Only Chanyeol straightens up a little, grips Baekhyun's hips, and slides him off his lap. Baekhyun blinks. Chanyeol kind of almost smiles in apology.  
  
"Want another beer?" he asks.  
  
Baekhyun sits there, watching Chanyeol walk into the kitchen without looking back, and wonders what that was and how he's supposed to react.  
  
"Okay," he says in the end.  
  
"So what was with you few weeks back anyway?" he asks, when Chanyeol hands him the new bottle. "You never told me. You know I would have come help out or something."  
  
"Oh, it was nothing really. I wasn't even truly sick, just my stomach hurt in the bar and then I got busy, you know."  
  
Baekhyun doesn't know. Chanyeol being too busy to talk to his friends, to talk to _Baekhyun_ , is a completely new concept. It would be more plausible if Baekhyun's heard of all his stomach fireworks, honestly. That he'd expect.  
  
"Busy with what? Do you have a new project?"  
  
Chanyeol looks at him steadily then sighs. "Baekhyunnie, just drop it. I just needed...I guess I needed to spend a bit of time with my guitar," he finishes and turns to the TV. "Eat your chips, drink your beer, stop worrying about your kids or me, just enjoy the mind-numbing television."  
  
Baekhyun would much rather do other things that numb his mind rather pleasantly, but he obeys. Chanyeol's head drops to his shoulder a bit later, but only after Chanyeol falls asleep. His breath is even, but his hands are still clapped in his lap, safely away from Baekhyun, how they stayed the entire night. Baekhyun gently lets him down onto the couch, slips into his shoes, and goes back home to his own bed and strange dreams he doesn't remember in the morning.  
  


~

  
  
Baekhyun gets drunk during a dinner with Soo Man, Kyungsoo, and Bae Joohyun. It's a funny little story because Kyungsoo invited Baekhyun along as he'd tried before and in return, when Baekhyun stumbled upon Joohyun in one of the main office kitchenettes, he somehow managed to talk her into coming along, too. Clearly he's still got it.  
  
As a result, there's some annoyed glaring involved. Kyungsoo seems to think Baekhyun is hitting on his long-time crush, and Baekhyun lets him think so until an altercation involving cold water down his collar in the men's bathroom mid-dinner. It only takes him that long to come clean with Kyungsoo because Kyungsoo has been drilling his ears about solving the Chanyeol situation, whatever that is. There's no situation. Chanyeol's _busy_ , even if Baekhyun doesn't know what that actually means, and Baekhyun is trying to look for fun elsewhere even if he's miserably failing. Kyungsoo accused him of breaking up with Chanyeol once, but that is nonsense. There was no break up because there was no relationship.  
  
Still in the bathroom, Kyungsoo looks equal part sad, miffed, and disappointed, so Baekhyun lets him off the hook, explains he only took Joohyun along because he knows she's still treating Kyungsoo as the cute junior, and he switches places with Kyungsoo when they come back. He cozies up to Lee Soo Man, trying to gouge out when his group is actually debuting. There's lots of wine involved. Kyungsoo doesn't look as put off anymore, just indulging for now, and he offers to call Joohyun a taxi and escort her to the back door. He doesn't come back, and eventually Baekhyun ends up standing alone in front of the slowly closing restaurant, watching the boss' taxi disappear.  
  
He only realizes Chanyeol might still be too busy for him or their unfinished One Piece marathon when he's knocking on Chanyeol's door. He also completely forgets he had planned to lay off Chanyeol and his cock and his tongue and other qualities.  
  
Chanyeol opens the door in glasses and long hoodie paws, but only in tight boxers, his long legs pale and so painfully bow-shaped like this. He looks like an oversized plush teddy bear. Baekhyun wants to snuggle to him, cuddle him...cuddle _fuck_ him. He wonders if Chanyeol would be up for that, Baekhyun holding him in his arms from behind, one palm splayed on Chanyeol's thigh as he slides into him. Baekhyun would bury his nose in Chanyeol's messy hair, and he can imagine how good it would smell.  
  
Baekhyun sighs and leans against Chanyeol's doorframe, huffing a little because it's insane how Chanyeol-deprived he feels even if Chanyeol's right there and watching him right now. Oh, he startles and focuses enough to look Chanyeol right in the eyes, a bit panicked.  
  
"You're drunk," Chanyeol chuckles. "Where did you come from?"  
  
Baekhyun groans and moves forward, barreling into Chanyeol before he gets stopped, wrapping around him like an octopus and taking a deep breath with his nose pushed against Chanyeol's chest.  
  
"Matchmaking session," he mumbles. "Business dinner with Lee Soo Man and Kyungsoo," he tries again as he feels Chanyeol patting his head with one hand and shutting the door with the other.  
  
"You hard-working lush," Chanyeol says, and his laughter rumbles in his chest. Baekhyun kisses it and leans his head up, managing a kiss to Chanyeol's neck and chin before Chanyeol moves away.  
  
"Let's get you some water," he says, and Baekhyun wonders if the hitch in Chanyeol's breath was just in his drunken mind too.  
  
They pass Chanyeol's living room, music sheets scattered all around, and a guitar leaning against the couch. Chanyeol leads him further into the kitchen though and pours him a big glass of water.  
  
As Baekhyun drinks, he watches Chanyeol fidget around with his washed dishes until the moment Baekhyun drops the glass to the counter with more noise than he intended to. Chanyeol startles, but Baekhyun tries to corner him against the sink.  
  
Chanyeol's laughter is feeble this time.  
  
"Baekhyunnie, you're drunk," he says slowly, again, as Baekhyun goes on his tiptoes and kisses behind Chanyeol's ear. "I'll get you some clothes and a towel so you can shower."  
  
Baekhyun stumbles back a little. "Can we watch some One Piece?" he asks in the end, giving up. "Or have you been watching…" he trails of. _Without me_ he doesn't say.  
  
"Yeah we can," Chanyeol nods, and this time his smile reaches his big eyes. He ruffles Baekhyun's hair and disappears in the bathroom.  
  


~

  
  
Baekhyun wakes up because he's suddenly cold. He grumbles, tries to find the comfortable warm position again, but the source of heat is gone. He hears the shower run somewhere near and groans, realizing that it was Chanyeol who's kept him warm. Chanyeol, who Baekhyun had followed into bed last night at which point he was told to sleep. Then at least he got snuggled into submission even as he tried to sneak his hands underneath Chanyeol's sleep shirt. He sighs, still strangely miffed by Chanyeol leaving the bed and the nest they had made in it.  
  
He contemplates just climbing into the shower after Chanyeol and getting on his knees, and his cock twitches at the idea. Instead he crawls out of the bed, gets himself a big glass of water, and then slips into the bathroom to wash his teeth. He has a toothbrush in one of Chanyeol's shelves and moves on autopilot, letting his mind wander to Chanyeol, naked and wet, barely a meter away from him.  
  
"You're a mess," he hears, and his breath hitches because suddenly he finds Chanyeol standing right behind him in the small bathroom, reaching for a fresh towel. This is ridiculous.  
  
Baekhyun turns around and raises an eyebrow.  
  
"Am I?" he asks and grabs the towel from Chanyeol, running it over his chest and reaching behind Chanyeol to wrap it around his hips. He's hard, and he knows Chanyeol notices, stares a bit, as they stand close like this.  
  
"Fuck, Chanyeol," Baekhyun says at last and pushes forward, reaching a hand into Chanyeol's dripping hair and pulling him in for a messy kiss. Chanyeol makes a noise in the back of his throat, and Baekhyun bites his bottom lip and presses into him. "God, I want you," he says, pulling Chanyeol closer by the hip.  
  
"Yeah," Chanyeol sighs into his mouth, "I gathered."  
  
Baekhyun wants to say something smart, but in that moment Chanyeol wraps a strong hand around him and starts pushing him out of the bathroom and back into his bedroom.  
  
"Fine, alright," Chanyeol mutters, and Baekhyun happily gets rid of the towel that was in the way from the beginning.  
  
It's not like Baekhyun would mind staying in the bathroom. He'd be perfectly okay grinding against Chanyeol there with his back against the sink, but this is better, falling onto the bed and tangling with Chanyeol on it. Like this he gets to mouth down Chanyeol's chest, dig his fingers into Chanyeol's ass, run a palm down his thigh, and suck Chanyeol's fingers into his mouth to muffle the sounds as Chanyeol gets rid of Baekhyun's sweats and starts pulling at his cock.  
  
"Fuck me?" Chanyeol suggests against his ear, and then kisses across Baekhyun's jaw, and Baekhyun's barely breathing.  
  
It's messy, and they haven't been this out of sync in a while, but in the end Baekhyun gets Chanyeol on his back, with cushions underneath his ass and Chanyeol's legs neatly wrapped around Baekhyun. Baekhyun slicks his fingers and works them into Chanyeol, a bit quicker than Chanyeol would normally do it for him.  
  
Chanyeol has his eyes closed tightly and his head is thrown back. He's so long like this, so good as he starts pushing back on Baekhyun's fingers. Baekhyun remembers his fantasy from last night as Chanyeol arches his back and his still-damp hair falls away from his forehead.  
  
"Move. Like this," Baekhyun mutters, pulling his fingers away and helping Chanyeol to roll onto his right side. He slides behind him, quickly pulls a condom over his cock, and pumps himself with slick fingers. He kneads at Chanyeol's ass cheek and then slides in, smooth and so good.  
  
"You okay?" he asks Chanyeol, and Chanyeol just groans and hides his face in the pillow, pushing his hips back.  
  
Baekhyun takes it for a yes, and moves, leaning over Chanyeol and hiking Chanyeol’s left thigh a bit higher as he starts pushing in and out. It's not as gentle and cuddly as he imagined. He's too desperate, maybe, too eager, and Chanyeol's trembling underneath him. It feels all too fast, and Baekhyun knows he's not gonna last. He reaches for Chanyeol's left hand, uncurls it from his sheets and guides him to his own cock, lingering only a little on its thick length.  
  
Chanyeol's just so hot, his body is so good, and Baekhyun enjoys this all so much more because by now he knows what Chanyeol likes just as much as Chanyeol knows what brings Baekhyun off the best. He braces himself better, hips snapping, and when he's too close, too far gone to come back down, he leans up, licks over the ridge of Chanyeol's ear to feel him shudder and then stiffen.  
  
"Come with me," he whispers into Chanyeol's hair, and Chanyeol does, pulling Baekhyun with him, the pressure in Baekhyun's body loosening at last as he clutches onto Chanyeol's chest from behind and holds his hips flush against Chanyeol's ass.  
  
It takes a while, but then Chanyeol whimpers and rolls fully onto his stomach and away from Baekhyun.  
  
Baekhyun laughs a little, feeling lighter and kissing down Chanyeol's spine lazily. It's Saturday and he's thinking about breakfast and maybe coaxing what Chanyeol's been working on recently out of him. They could spend the day doing music and each other in turns.  
  
"I need," Chanyeol starts then sighs. He turns around, giving Baekhyun a quick kiss on top of his head. "I'm meeting a friend for breakfast," he says in the end. "You can let yourself out, okay?"  
  
He gets up, his moves still a little sluggish after sex, but he dresses quickly, willing his hair into some semblance of order, and leaves before Baekhyun can get himself together and complain. This shouldn't be a problem anyway. It's not like Chanyeol needs to spend his Saturday with Baekhyun. Normally Baekhyun would be the one doing the leaving. Still this is _Chanyeol_ , and Baekhyun lies in his bed, spread out like a starfish as his body gets heavy and tired and nothing like the high he felt when Chanyeol was within his reach.  
  


~

  
  
On Monday, Baekhyun realizes it's really happening. His group of teenage boys is debuting. It's happening soon. Soon enough so that Twilight Zone, as they will be called from now on, can come back in quick succession, parallel to the release of Kyungsoo's last album before his enlistment. That way Kyungsoo can drag them on stage during music show encores and parade them around at every chance. Baekhyun should be grateful, really. Instead he's stressed and Kyungsoo's still eyeing him as warily as he did during the dinner with Soo Man and not really talking. Baekhyun's texted Chanyeol, but the other hasn't replied yet, probably just stuck in a recording studio. Still.  
  
"Does Chanyeol have some secret group of friends?" he asks into his salad. He hates salads, but he's come up with the bright idea of eating the same way as his kids before debut to motivate them. It shouldn't be a problem since it seems the days of breakfast at Chanyeol's are regretfully over.  
  
Kyungsoo kind of glares, but he raises an eyebrow in question.  
  
"Well, he went out on Saturday for breakfast, and I don't know with who. It's not like him to…"  
  
He stops himself when Kyungsoo gets up from his seat, chair screeching.  
  
"Chanyeol not wanting to spend all his time with you doesn't mean he joined a cult, Baekhyun. Stop whining."  
  
"I'm not whining," Baekhyun looks up, confused. Kyungsoo looks upset now.  
  
"First you break up with him, then you mope around when he's not answering your messages, then you flirt with Joohyun, and then you go to him and expect him to just be at your disposal, and…"  
  
"You can't break up with someone you aren't in a relationship with. We've been over this, Kyungsoo." Baekhyun's getting angry now too. "Chanyeol never insinuated we're more either. Not _once_." Chanyeol always takes everything in stride, but somehow Baekhyun's gut clenches, unease mixing with anger, thinking of moments when Chanyeol doesn't say anything at all.  
  
Kyungsoo looks like he wants to stomp angrily. "Well, of course he didn't. Chanyeol wants to please everyone, Baekhyun." For a moment, Kyungsoo looks like he's pitying Baekhyun. His voice lowers and he speaks much calmer. "Chanyeol loves everyone and puts his all into it, and he'll take anything he's given back. Especially from you. But damn it. If you don't see what's going on, if you don't see how much more he deserves, then you should stop holding his heart in the palm of your hand."  
  
Baekhyun blanches. Kyungsoo's implying things he doesn't want to listen to. Chanyeol's a great friend. He's great. Period. Baekhyun knows this, but that's all there is to it, just Chanyeol being a genuinely good person on top of being a wonderful fuck.  
  
"Chanyeol's never said anything, so really--" It's just all the people around them meddling, unable to understand something without a name.  
  
"Then it shouldn't matter who he leaves you in bed for," Kyungsoo interrupts. And oh, he knows. Did Chanyeol put it like that?  
  
"He didn't leave me…"  
  
Kyungsoo just gives him one more upset look, grabs the rest of his food, and leaves.  
  


~

  
  
Yunho texts Baekhyun that he needs him to get some old footage of Kyungsoo from their oldest recording room turned archive and that he should bring it right to Kyungsoo and try to make him step away from the mike for a bit. Baekhyun's not sure if Kyungsoo would even spare him a glance now, but he goes because Kyungsoo _is_ a friend and being in good favour with his manager can come in handy. He's surprised to find the doors to the room ajar and the lights on.  
  
To say he's surprised to see Chanyeol inside, looking in confusion at his phone, is an understatement. Then the door clicks shut behind him, and Baekhyun can hear another metallic clack. He realizes too late it's the sound of the lock latching into place.  
  
Chanyeol's phone chimes in his hand before either of them manage a word.  
  
"Oh," he says feebly. Baekhyun reaches over and takes the phone from him.  
  
From Kyungsoo:  
_We won't let you two out until you figure out what this fucking relationship of yours really is._  
  
The phone chimes again, a new message sliding on top of the screen.  
  
From Sehun:  
_Fighting._  
  
Of course.  
  
"Are there monsters here we should be fighting?" Baekhyun asks. He's being purposefully obtuse, but right now it's hard to even look Chanyeol in the eye.  
  
"Well, I'm not sure, these boxes do look kind of ominous." Chanyeol looks around, suspiciously. "And then there's the fucking elephant in the room," he adds.  
  
When Baekhyun looks up at him accusingly, Chanyeol sighs, sliding down onto the old dusty couch. "If it helps, I imagine it's kind of pink."  
  
"Neon pink or hot pink?" Baekhyun asks, quirking an eyebrow. "Because you know I fucking love hot pink, so it should at least be hot pink."  
  
Chanyeol laughs at that and pulls Baekhyun to sit down beside him.  
  
"I'm going to kill Kyungsoo," Baekhyun huffs, wondering if maybe they've successfully steered clear of dangerous territory.  
  
"He meant well," Chanyeol says quietly, hovering over Sehun's contact info. He taps something quickly that Baekhyun doesn't catch before hiding the phone. "We don't have to give us any names or anything. Sehun will come back and let us out eventually. He'd never leave us here for a long time."  
  
Baekhyun huffs. "Kyungsoo totally would."  
  
Chanyeol smirks a bit. "Fortunately, he's not immune to Sehun's soft heart."  
  
"This is ridiculous," Baekhyun groans again. "I don't have time for this and…" Baekhyun trails off, watches for a moment as Chanyeol fidgets and looks down at his empty hands. "What do you mean, he meant well?" he asks. His stomach is in knots again and he doesn't need all this extra stress.  
  
"Look," Chanyeol starts, but then doesn't continue. Baekhyun ends up poking him between ribs.  
  
"Spill," Baekhyun breathes out, but he's dreading what might be coming. When Chanyeol doesn't say anything, Baekhyun can't keep it in.  
  
"Maybe we really should stop."  
  
Chanyeol looks up sharply.  
  
"Stop having sex, I mean," Baekhyun says. It'll work. He and Chanyeol could be just friends again, go bowling, do music and watch anime series together. He wonders if the cuddling would continue, whether that's friendship or ...  
  
"That sounds an awful lot like breaking up, Baekhyun," Chanyeol says, sarcastic and hurt all at the same time. "You didn't look like you wanted to stop anytime soon just this weekend. Actually, you looked like if I'd stayed home, we'd have fucked again before we managed breakfast."  
  
Baekhyun remembers wanting to just chill for a bit that morning, huddle in close to Chanyeol's warmth and maybe whine a little about how Soo Man only remembers the name of one of his trainees.  
  
"Well, it seems like that's not what you want, so…" _And Kyungsoo thinks you're in love with me_ , Baekhyun doesn't say.  
  
"I admit," Chanyeol says, hands closing into fists then relaxing. "I got a bit ahead of myself, thought that maybe there was something there. I didn't need a name, but I assumed things. Then I got upset because you treated all of our time together like it meant nothing."  
  
"That's not--"  
  
"Actually," Chanyeol talks over Baekhyun. "You acted like it offended you, the idea of us dating. You kept denying it, like a plague, couldn't even joke it off anymore. It's one thing to not be dating and another one to be actively fighting the idea that we possibly could be." Chanyeol looks straight at Baekhyun for the first time.  
  
"That's not what I meant," Baekhyun blurts out, reaching for Chanyeol and only catching the end of his sleeve, too long for him again. Chanyeol's the master of finding impossibly big clothes to wear.  
  
"Look," Chanyeol says in the end, shaking his head. "I can, and I always could, say no to you. But to be frank Baekhyun, you are good in bed. If it wasn't clear, I _do_ enjoy having sex with you as much as you do. It's pretty convenient, isn't it? No need to romance you or anything. Good sex with no additional stress." He shakes off Baekhyun's hand on his sleeve, but doesn't pull away as Baekhyun expected him to. Instead he runs his palm up Baekhyun's leg, sliding it so that it rests on his inner thigh, close to his groin.  
  
"So, one day I may decide I've had enough," Chanyeol says when Baekhyun's breath hitches. "And you may too, if you get your fill, as well. But leave my emotions and thinking about what's best for me, to me."  
  
Chanyeol's warm hand on Baekhyun's thigh is distracting. Baekhyun might not be understanding this conversation completely. He latches on the obvious.  
  
"See, I knew you saw it my way. It is convenient." Baekhyun's hand covers Chanyeol's, and he presses it down. "Why does everyone think that being in a relationship is better? It holds you back. Plus I don't have time for one, won't have it for a long while because I'll be herding a debuted group around. No one would, or should, put up with it."  
  
Chanyeol looks up at him sharply, puzzled. "You know that wouldn't be a problem, right?"  
  
"Chanyeol…" Baekhyun starts, his hand loosening. He grabs Chanyeol's wrist instead, trying to pull it away.  
  
"Never mind," Chanyeol says quickly, holding his ground with a hard stare and his fingers digging into the muscles of Baekhyun's thigh. "Point is, I set myself straight, and if the only reason you want to stop is to spare my fragile feelings then really give me more credit and…and don't."  
  
Chanyeol's looking earnest now. He's not pleading, instead he insists on knowing what he's doing. Baekhyun's not going to protest. Or let Kyungsoo dictate what they are to each other.  
  
"It's not nothing," he says in the end. "You're not nothing to me." He's not lying. Chanyeol is not this random on-call fuck buddy.  
  
"But no relationship or commitment," Chanyeol says, giving him a small wobbly smile.  
  
"I'd rather spend my time having sex with you then coming up with labels," Baekhyun says. He has to take a deep breath as Chanyeol's grip on his thigh loosens, becomes heavy heat only. "Like for example right now. We should've just had really loud sex. We are locked together in a dingy studio, you know." He tries to waggle his eyebrows and move closer to Chanyeol.  
  
"Have you been reading Kyungsoo fanfiction again?" Chanyeol asks, laughing fully now and letting Baekhyun slide into his lap.  
  
"Nah, I've been having too good real sex for that, but I do remember the classics," Baekhyun says, leaning down to mouth at Chanyeol's jaw.  
  
"Baekhyun, we're adults. Sometimes I even think of myself as sensible," Chanyeol huffs, his breath hot against Baekhyun's face when Baekhyun leans up to try and kiss him.  
  
Instead though, he bursts out laughing.  
  
"What?" Chanyeol asks, indignant. His hands are firmly on Baekhyun's hips, and it feels good to be this close, even though they're just talking.  
  
"I love that the only reason you think we shouldn't have sex right now is that we're too old for sex in locked grimy rooms."  
  
Chanyeol rolls his eyes and goes to say something, possibly give Baekhyun whole list of reasons why, but instead Baekhyun kisses him.  
  
"Fine," Baekhyun breathes as he mouths behind Chanyeol's ear. "But at least make out with me."  
  
Chanyeol chuckles and does. Baekhyun feels like maybe that's because kissing is what Chanyeol needs the most right now.  
  
Sehun comes to unlock the door maybe an hour later. Baekhyun only knows his jaw is aching from all the kissing he's been doing and his legs are shaky as he stands up and walks around Sehun, trying hard to be as angry as he was before the kissing started. Sehun doesn't look very apologetic though.  
  
"How did it go?" he hears Sehun ask, but doesn't wait for Chanyeol's answer. Chanyeol can deal with Sehun just like Baekhyun's going to deal with Kyungsoo.  
  


~

  
  
Baekhyun gets dragged out by a group of managers. Yunho's there too, and he looks a little guilty when Baekhyun looks his way. Baekhyun swallows any ill feelings and buys him a drink. He's still a big senior even if he's clearly complicit in today's Kyungsoo's meddling.  
  
As the night wears on and beer and shots get spilled all over their table, a pretty newbie working on Bae Joohyun's team smiles at him, runs a hand through his hair as he leans his forehead on the table and complains about one car being too small to herd seven boys around. What kind of inconvenient head count is that even, for an idol group. When she presses her thigh to his under the table, he looks at her blearily.  
  
"Work fucks get messy," he slurs.  
  
She blinks then pouts and someone laughs behind him. He's not even sure he knows the guy's name. "That never stopped you before," he says. Baekhyun scrunches his nose and thinks of the clean smell of Chanyeol's soft sheets. He can't barge in on him drunk again so soon, especially not today.  
  
"Are you really seeing someone then?" The pretty girl asks, her hand still in his hair, but softer, less confident now.  
  
"This company is one big rumor mill factory," he whines.  
  
"Well, it's how we make a living half the time," someone else chimes in.  
  
Suddenly, despite all the alcohol Baekhyun consumed, half hoping to drown today in it, Chanyeol is all Baekhyun can think of. His words are still too fresh in Baekhyun's mind. They seem to echo even stronger within him now that he's drunk, Chanyeol so upset about Baekhyun vehemently denying their entanglement. Chanyeol, who's not even here, Chanyeol who these people probably don't even know but are implying Baekhyun's involved with.  
  
A wave of nausea hits Baekhyun when he remembers how he'd been so adamant about this before, in situations like these, when they were out with their friends or just random acquaintances, people like those surrounding Baekhyun now. Chanyeol would sit there, right next to Baekhyun, and let Baekhyun dismiss every comment about them dating like it was nothing. Even if they both knew that they'd end up pressed against each other by the end of the night, Chanyeol would try to diffuse the taunts and teasing. Meanwhile Baekhyun would only get progressively more upset.  
  
If Baekhyun really, really lets himself think about it, he's been an ass. He was so wrapped up in trying to correct what others thought about them, him, with no regard of how that must make Chanyeol feel. Useless. It’s not that Baekhyun's not aware just how Chanyeol would be one hell of a boyfriend. The signs are all there really, but Baekhyun keeps looking away.  
  
The conversation has mostly moved on around him, only the girl next to him still paying attention. He just feels sick.  
  
"I'm going home," he says, swaying as he lifts his head off the table and stands up.  
  
"Well, if you change your mind," the girl shrugs and pulls one of her professional business cards out, scribbling her kakao talk ID on it. She's pretty, tiny and bright eyed. Baekhyun can't bring himself to let her take him to bed.  
  
"Okay," he mumbles, already pulling his phone out.  
  
_Chanyeol, it's not that I would never date YOU,_ he sends.  
  
As he flags down the taxi, he realizes he dropped the girl's business card somewhere when he fumbled with his money at the bar. He's not really sorry.  
  
_I suppose it's a relief that it's not really me that's stopping you_ blinks back at him before he even makes it home.  
  
Chanyeol would be an awesome boyfriend. Baekhyun doesn't message him that.  
  


~

  
  
Kyungsoo finds Baekhyun outside the dance practice room, sitting on the floor so as not to miss someone from Twilight Zone trying to escape, and eating hangover soup he made some intern fetch him. It's spicy and it smells so strong that his kids can probably tell from inside the studio. He's cheating on their food agreement and the guilt mixes nicely with his nausea.  
  
"Here," Kyungsoo says, dropping a small bottle of store-bought hangover medicine into Baekhyun's lap. "You look awful."  
  
"I'm hungover," Baekhyun says flatly. "And upset with you," he adds. Kyungsoo's lucky he feels like shit. It makes him almost mellow.  
  
"I know. Yunho mentioned you barely found the bar exit on your way out last night. Says you were so drunk you didn't even want to fuck Son Seungwan." Baekhyun spares a thought for the fact Kyungsoo knows Joohyun's junior managers by name, then tries to focus.  
  
"You want to say something Kyungsoo? Haven't you done enough?"  
  
Baekhyun doesn't actually like to fight for real, least of all with Kyungsoo. Still, Kyungsoo's been overstepping for a while now.  
  
"Clearly not," Kyungsoo says laconically. "You're such a mess, Byun Baekhyun."  
  
"And you're not being a good friend, Do Kyungsoo," Baekhyun concurs. "Honestly Kyungsoo, it's none of your business what Chanyeol and I are doing or what we're calling it."  
  
"Chanyeol's my friend," Kyungsoo hisses.  
  
"And I am too, and last time I checked it was okay to not want a relationship, just as it's okay to feel like being with someone is the fulfillment of your life. But that's not how I feel right now, and you keep pushing me."  
  
"It's not just about you," Kyungsoo tries again.  
  
"No, but Chanyeol's a grown up man who made it perfectly clear he knows what he's doing." Baekhyun drops the soup on the floor between his legs and digs his fingers into his thighs. "You just have to accept it that you and I are different and stop meddling. You almost messed everything up. I almost…almost pulled away just because of you. Stop controlling me."  
  
"Pulled away? Baekhyun, you think fucking Chanyeol is _convenient_. And it's not even the fucking I have a problem with, really."  
  
"No," Baekhyun's voice gets loud, and he just hopes no one will come check on them. He doesn't want any more witnesses for this. "It's Chanyeol who called it that," he finishes. His voice comes out shaky and hurt. He _feels_ hurt. Because Kyungsoo seems to think the worst of him and Chanyeol apparently tells him everything. "If Chanyeol's going to tell you every little detail about what happens between us, he should at least get it right. Or you should listen properly, I don't know."  
  
Kyungsoo seems to deflate suddenly. "Chanyeol hasn't told me anything. Sehun did. Because Chanyeol is his best friend, and he makes Chanyeol spill the beans, then he worries."  
  
"But it's you who took it upon yourself to interfere." Baekhyun takes a long breath and looks at Kyungsoo. "I wish you'd stop."  
  
Kyungsoo sighs. "I'm not…I'm not judging you for having flings Baekhyun, you know that, right?"  
  
"Whatever." Baekhyun's not sure what Kyungsoo wants him to do.  
  
"I just feel like sleeping with only one of them for over six months and cuddling up to him in between means it's not just a fling," Kyungsoo says, and it's clear he's still frustrated.  
  
"That's not up for you to decide." Baekhyun won't let it slide this time though. "Why does everything have to be in a box with a label on it?"  
  
"You both are so stubborn," Kyungsoo sighs. "I'm sorry, Baekhyun. But I just have to wonder if you really don't see what's going on, or if for some reason, you're just so stuck on this idea that relationships aren't what you want that you're acting purposefully obtuse."  
  
Baekhyun blinks. "Kyungsoo, that sentence was way too long for my hung-over brain."  
  
Kyungsoo laughs and tentatively pulls at Baekhyun's elbow so that Baekhyun's leaning into him. "I still think you're a mess."  
  
"Please stop saying that too," Baekhyun asks, but his anger is dissipating and he just sounds pouty.  
  
"Okay then. I'm proud of you for not sleeping with Seungwan. She's too young and innocent for you."  
  
Baekhyun snorts and doesn't mention it was her idea.  
  
"Some other time we're going to talk about how familiar you are with Bae Joohyun's team all of a sudden."  
  
Kyungsoo doesn't blush. But if Baekhyun's ever seen him close to it, this would be it. It finally breaks through Baekhyun's foul mood and he pops the hangover medicine open, raising it in cheers towards Kyungsoo before drinking it in one go.  
  


~

  
  
_Can I come over tonight or are you sleeping in the dance studio again?_ Chanyeol asks on Friday.  
  
With the debut mere days away, it feels like that's what Baekhyun's been doing, even if he actually does try to get home to at least shower and change clothes. On most days he does anyway. He's only seen Chanyeol once, when he found him sitting in the recording studio, where he went to hide for his break, talking with Kyungsoo. Chanyeol had taken a good look at Baekhyun, let him croak out a wound up greeting, and pulled him into the closest bathroom to suck him off. Baekhyun didn't even manage to tease him about these bathrooms being just as bad as dingy recording rooms before he was coming and Chanyeol was giving him a lopsided smile and a kiss to his scrunched nose. He was sent off, his legs jello, his head blissfully empty for just a short moment, and thankful.  
  
It's Friday though and the soon to be debuted Twilight Zone gets to have their last break for the next, well, maybe a few years, Baekhyun thinks with a bit of nausea. He's actually been contemplating the possibility of just crashing on Chanyeol's couch. He might have been fine with just watching anime too, with how tired to the bone he is.  
  
_My place is a mess_ , he types back. He doesn't remember last time he did more than laundry.  
  
_I'm sure we'll manage to find the bed_ , Chanyeol replies.  
  
Oh. Baekhyun stares at his phone until another row breaks out in the studio and he goes to make sure all those pretty faces stay intact.  
  
_I'll text you before I leave the building. Might be late though._  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol gets to Baekhyun's apartment only about half an hour later than Baekhyun himself. Baekhyun just managed to shower and pick up the dirty coffee cups off his kitchen counter before he hears the doorbell. Chanyeol hasn't been here in a while, nor has he come very often. Baekhyun's flat is mostly bare necessities and almost always empty. He's surprised Chanyeol still remembers which door is his.  
  
Baekhyun expects lots of things, but not for Chanyeol to press him against his barely closed front door and work him into a frenzy within minutes. Chanyeol's hands are everywhere on him, and Baekhyun just lets himself cling, one leg hooked around Chanyeol's thigh as Chanyeol pushes into him, and gasps between hard kisses. Chanyeol fucks him right there, pulling the lube and condoms from his back pocket like maybe he planned this, but it's too good to think too much about.  
  
Baekhyun slumps into Chanyeol after he comes, groans into his neck while Chanyeol pulls out, gets rid of the condom and strokes himself, his knuckles brushing against Baekhyun's stomach. His come smears across Baekhyun's skin, some of it as far as Baekhyun's chest and over his nipple, and that is hot too.  
  
"Dirty," he mumbles into Chanyeol's skin. "I just cleaned up."  
  
"Looks good though," Chanyeol says, his voice still breathy and so low, as he drags a finger down the middle of Baekhyun's chest.  
  
"Clean me up," Baekhyun demands. Chanyeol only laughs and drags him away from the door, guiding him by the hips. They end up in bed not in the bathroom though, and cleaning up apparently means Chanyeol licking his own come off Baekhyun's skin and then somehow pressing Baekhyun deep into his mattress, soon frantic, as they rub against each other. Baekhyun comes the second time, with a shout, and batting Chanyeol away from his oversensitive cock. He's boneless. On top of the blankets like this, he can feel the evening chill of the room.  
  
"Come here," he mumbles, dragging Chanyeol back down after a while so that Chanyeol's body half covers his, makes him warm. He tries to kiss Chanyeol, but he feels heavy and is pulled into sleep before he really can.  
  
"Baby," he thinks he hears, and it's definitely said with sheer endearment this time. It doesn't drag him away from sleep though.  
  


~

  
  
Baekhyun wakes up to being moved around. It takes him a moment to realize what that means, and he opens his eyes with a start. Chanyeol's shuffling around the room, looking for what turns out to be his shirt that, now that Baekhyun remembers, only got taken off when they fell into bed last night.  
  
"What, ugh," Baekhyun tries to ask, his throat dry and body aching. It's not completely light out yet.  
  
"Just go back to sleep," Chanyeol sighs as he turns to face Baekhyun. He's only wearing that shirt and he fidgets a little. It's almost funny how he seems to want to cover himself up. He looks good, soft and rumpled from sleep, still so tall and long-limbed though. Baekhyun's stomach clenches.  
  
"Come back to bed," he mumbles, reaching a useless hand out before it drops against his will. He's still half asleep, and perplexed by Chanyeol not being in bed with him.  
  
"I'm leaving," Chanyeol whispers. He finally decides what to do with his hands, starting to button up his shirt and looking down at the task.  
  
"What?" Baekhyun asks again, more alert now. Still miffed.  
  
"Sehun wants to drive down to Busan for the weekend. Something about the beach before it gets crowded. You know him and his obsession with water. Junmyeon's away on a business trip, so I'm tagging along."  
  
Chanyeol's too awake and too active. And he's leaving.  
  
"You're going away? For the weekend?" Baekhyun manages to sit up a little.  
  
"Yeah, we've had it planned for a while."  
  
Baekhyun blanches at that, realizes last night was a booty call; a booty call that Chanyeol had instigated. He has no intention of staying for at least breakfast, an episode of a morning drama, just something. There would be no lingering, just like Baekhyun used to do it all the time. Just the way he liked it, clear and simple.  
  
"Have a good weekend, Baekhyun," Chanyeol finally says, looking up, his shirt now buttoned up to the very first button under his collar, his bottom still bare. "Rest, okay?" he adds as an afterthought. He makes to move towards Baekhyun, and Baekhyun automatically goes to lean up for a kiss. Chanyeol halts though, takes a step back then turns around.  
  
"I'll let myself out," he says over his shoulder. Baekhyun listens to him pick up the rest of his clothes in the entryway, his body still not as awake as his mind, weighted down enough that he doesn't think he can get up just yet. The front door shuts soon, and Baekhyun slides down to lie in his bed, in Chanyeol's warm spot, and pulls the covers over his head. Sleep eludes him.  
  


~

  
  
Somehow Baekhyun finds himself eating lunch with Kyungsoo and Joohyun the day of the debut showcase. All the teasers have been released, Baekhyun feels like he himself could dance the debut choreo if woken from sleep in the middle of the night, and he deleted twitter off this phone because he can't take scrolling through the Twilight Zone tag.  
  
Kyungsoo and Joohyun eat equally tiny salads, chatting, and it's strange to watch them like this. They're both very private people; Joohyun, despite being a colleague more than an idol to Baekhyun, still has this aura of a cool distant queen sometimes. Yet in this moment, she is smiling gently at Kyungsoo as he tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She's affectionate and Kyungsoo hasn't ever smiled at a plate of green vegetables like this before.  
  
Baekhyun texts all his friends about his nerves and gets a variation of cheers and mild downplaying of his worries in return. Chanyeol takes longest to answer, and Baekhyun swipes excitedly over his icon when it lights up on the screen.  
  
_Would phone sex help? I'm on a break_ , reads the message followed by a cute sticker with a bold "fighting" blinking on top of the image.  
  
On the couch opposite him, Joohyun lets Kyungsoo drop his head on her shoulder, and Baekhyun raises an eyebrow in amusement at the way Kyungsoo looks a bit confused at actually not being swiped at.  
  
_I was thinking more like a hug and pat to the shoulder_ , Baekhyun types to Chanyeol.  
  
There's barrage of hugging stickers next, and Baekhyun's pretty sure the tiny pauses between them means Chanyeol's buying those that aren't default.  
  
Baekhyun chuckles when a kind of lewd sticker appears, his hands not shaking as much as when he dropped his chopsticks after uselessly chasing a cherry tomato around his salad bowl.  
  
_best of both worlds_ , is the message before the last sticker appears, Chanyeol's way of wishing Baekhyun good luck.  
  
"What's with the dopey smile?" Kyungsoo asks from across the room. "Did you find an undetectable way to rig the Melon chart?"  
  
Baekhyun wishes. "Something like that," he says and picks up his food. He throws the strawberry chocolate he's snatched from the convenience store that morning into Kyungsoo's lap. What his group doesn't see doesn't hurt them, but he can do this without cheating.  
  
"Break a leg," Kyungsoo shouts after him, and Baekhyun shakes a fist at him.  
  


~

  
  
Twilight Zone debut showcase is a mess. Still the turn out in the audience is pretty good, and they only go flat maybe three times during the songs. Two of them mess up their intros and Si Cheng forgets his stage name, but overall, Baekhyun consoles himself, it could have gone worse.  
  
"Clean up," Baekhyun says to the room in general and shuts the door to the dressing room, letting the group have a minute without supervision as they change before he drives them to the dorm. As he turns, he collides with somebody, but before he can step around them and apologize he's being hugged.  
  
"It went great," the person hugging him, _Chanyeol_ , is saying.  
  
Baekhyun sags and takes a deep breath. His heart is pounding from shock even as the adrenaline finally abates from his system.  
  
"What are you doing here?" he asks.  
  
"Made a deal with the producer." Baekhyun had asked Chanyeol to come a few days ago, when they met between schedules. He all but begged, too high on need and too honest as they fucked, in the back of Baekhyun's car behind the recording studio Chanyeol's been working at. Chanyeol had said he had to work.  
  
Now Chanyeol's running his hand through Baekhyun's hair as he tells him he really likes the hook of the debut single, and how everything went, essentially, without a hitch, surely also thanks to Baekhyun.  
  
"Congratulations," he says in the end. "Check under their beds for alcohol before you leave them today. At least two of them looked like they wanted to get drunk and forget today ever happened."  
  
Baekhyun laughs into Chanyeol's chest, taking one last deep breath to savor the fresh smell of Chanyeol's sweater before pulling away.  
  
"Or I could join them," he says, looking up and into Chanyeol's eyes. He's so grateful and overcome with delight at Chanyeol being here.  
  
Chanyeol pinches Baekhyun's hip and the moment is broken.  
  
A sound technician passes them, and Baekhyun realizes he's looking for the mic boxes that his kids probably totally forgot to return. He sighs, and Chanyeol slowly lets go of him, running his palms down Baekhyun's arms before stepping back.  
  
"I need to go back," he says. Baekhyun's eyes widen. It's late and Chanyeol's studio isn't exactly _close_ , as he found out the hard way this week. After they fucked, he was the one that was almost late to the shooting of some short promotional videos for SM's youtube channel.  
  
Chanyeol's smile widens in encouragement, motioning for Baekhyun to leave first.  
  
Instead Baekhyun moves forward, catching Chanyeol's mouth in a kiss, quick and messy. "Thank you," he sighs against Chanyeol's lips. He turns around quickly then, falling through the door to the tiny dressing room, hoping he doesn't look as winded and flustered as he feels.  
  


~

  
  
Three weeks later, Baekhyun's running on fumes, too much caffeine and the food Chanyeol feeds him when Baekhyun manages to crash at his apartment between the schedules instead of falling asleep on the couch of Twilight Zone's dorm.  
  
Chanyeol's apartment is conveniently closer than Baekhyun's own. It also has groceries, clean sheets, and…Chanyeol. At least most of the time it has Chanyeol. Baekhyun's almost managed to expel from his memory that time he fell asleep leaning against Chanyeol's front door and the time he made it back to his car but slept there because he wasn't sure he could drive himself home. Sex is a bonus. When Baekhyun can keep his eyes open for long enough and Chanyeol is in the mood to indulge him.  
  
Baekhyun's thinking about whether he even remembers where the keys to his apartment are and if maybe Chanyeol would know, humming the Twilight Zone song that they've been promoting, when someone steps around him in the small common kitchenette next to the dance studios. It makes him realize the water for the tea he's come to make has long since boiled.  
  
"So, are all of Kyungsoo's friends handsome, underrated musicians who could have made a living as idols in another world?" It's Joohyun, in a sports bra and leggings, sweaty from practice and so hot. Kyungsoo does have a good taste.  
  
Baekhyun quirks an eyebrow at her. "Why Bae Joohyun, is that a compliment?" he asks, leering a little.  
  
She laughs, so much more relaxed around him now. "Maybe," she shrugs, face straight. "But I was talking about the tall one. Big ears, twitchy eyes, long legs, pretty face."  
  
"You've met Chanyeol?" Baekhyun smirks. "This is getting serious," he says, trying to gauge her reaction. She's too good though, not giving anything away.  
  
"He's been shut in the recording room with Kyungsoo this past week, working on a song. He's kind of hard to miss," Joohyun points out.  
  
"A song?" Baekhyun asks, perplexed. He hasn't heard about his friends working on something together. Kyungsoo doesn't participate in backtrack recordings, and Baekhyun doesn't remember Chanyeol mentioning Kyungsoo asking for help with lyrics, or something.  
  
"Yeah, it's actually really good. Hence the underrated musician. I mean, you can totally sing, but making songs like that...I'm jealous. And surprised Chanyeol's not on our payroll yet." Joohyun flips her hair out of her face as she bends down to pull a yoghurt drink out of the fridge. It's graceful, her hair shining. Baekhyun would comment, but he's too busy thinking about Kyungsoo recording _Chanyeol's_ song.  
  
Joohyun looks at him expectantly, waiting for an answer. He turns around and finally pours the water into his tea mug. Tea has caffeine too, but it's not coffee, so there's that.  
  
"Chanyeol's full of songs," he says in the end. "He hasn't tried to ever sell any that I know of though."  
  
Joohyun nods. "Then I suppose I'm glad Kyungsoo gets to sing this one at least," she says and waves goodbye as she returns to the practice room across the hall.  
  
"Manager-hyung!" Jaehyun shouts across the hall. Baekhyun picks up his tea, spilling it over his fingers and scalding them, and goes to see what's happening.  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol's not elusive about it, when Baekhyun asks about the song. He shrugs and admits he gave Kyungsoo a song to look at when Kyungsoo mentioned he was still two songs short for his album.  
  
"Actually, it's the one we kind of messed around with some time ago, but I figured you wouldn't mind."  
  
"I…" Baekhyun starts. He does mind, though differently than what Chanyeol probably thinks. They're sitting outside, eating skewers and tteokbokki. When Baekhyun texted Chanyeol, the other had readily admitted to being in the building. Baekhyun begged off of car duty for the night and took Chanyeol out for food, promising to pay. The beer is cold and at least his food is spicy, and this would be his best evening in weeks, if not for the heavy ache settling in his chest.  
  
"I've been asking you to give me a song to pitch to the agency forever," he says in the end. It feels unfair somehow, Chanyeol going around him, behind his back. "I thought you'd tell me if you decided to finally try it."  
  
Chanyeol watches him, silently, only messing with the food in front of him.  
  
"It's not a big deal. I didn't want to bother you," he says.  
  
"It's obviously a pretty fucking big deal," Baekhyun spits out, louder and more accusatory than he intended. "Kyungsoo's recording it so his team must have liked it. I thought that's something you'd at least tell me, and not let me find out from Kyungsoo's girlfriend." Baekhyun's fingers curl too tight around the wooden stick of the skewer. It snaps and drops into his spicy sauce. "Actually I'd hoped you'd tell me _before_ doing so." He wants to be happy for Chanyeol finally taking this step. Chanyeol leaving him out of the process though, leaves him reeling.  
  
Chanyeol's not very happy with him, Baekhyun can tell, even if the lights aren't very bright around them and the air is fogged from the heat of the grill.  
  
"Why should I do that exactly?" Chanyeol asks, measured.  
  
"So I could help. Encourage you. I don't know. Support you!" Baekhyun's fingers hurt where he spilled hot tea over them, and the red sauce that splashed over them doesn't help. "So I don't feel like an idiot for not knowing something so important about your life."  
  
"Are you throwing a fit because I went to Kyungsoo and not to you?" Chanyeol's voice gets lower in that way that only means warning. "Who are you, Baekhyun, to have a right to be upset about that?"  
  
"I thought we were close," Baekhyun shoots back then recoils. "I just mean...I tell you stuff like this. I thought you would, too. It's important to you. I thought you'd want to share that…with me," Baekhyun finishes lamely.  
  
He sounds so foolish. It's not like it doesn't make sense, Chanyeol having all these songs lying around and offering some to Kyungsoo who's his longtime friend and also a freaking superstar. Baekhyun shouldn't make a big deal out of it, yet he's sitting here, angry and feeling left out.  
  
"Not everything is about you," Chanyeol says. He finishes his beer in one long swig and gets up. Baekhyun quickly stands too, pulling out money and paying, already having to catch up to Chanyeol. They drove here together, but Chanyeol's walking towards the closest metro station.  
  
"That's not what I meant," Baekhyun protests, catching Chanyeol's elbow. But it is, because Baekhyun's feeling wronged. "Chanyeol, please," he pleads, and Chanyeol sighs and turns around.  
  
"Then how is it, Baekhyun? Explain it to me."  
  
"I'm sorry for coming at you," Baekhyun says in a rush, squeezing Chanyeol's elbow, not wanting to let him go. He drags his other hand through his hair, trying to sort out his thoughts, anything other than the red lights behind his eyes, flashing signs of petty jealousy over Chanyeol confiding in friends other than him.  
  
Chanyeol groans. He doesn't try to leave again, but he pulls away from Baekhyun, rubbing his elbow and then crossing his arms on his chest defensively.  
  
"What I'm trying to say," Baekhyun forces himself to continue. "I guess is that I, that you… that I hope you would let me support you with these things. I know that it might not be too much, but it feels like, like it's something I could really do for you." Baekhyun has trouble wrapping his own mind about why he's so thrown off. "I… I want to be that person."  
  
Chanyeol gives him a strange look but deflates nonetheless, his arms dropping from his chest.  
  
"I'm sorry for lashing out, that was uncalled for." Baekhyun's going to deal with his own anger later.  
  
"We're not dating, Baekhyun," Chanyeol says plainly, at last. "So it doesn't seem right to expect to have some kind of support system with you."  
  
Baekhyun blanches. That's not how he's thought about it. Friends tell each other about important decisions, right? Only, would he say something if he was in Chanyeol's shoes? Before anything is decided? Chanyeol giving away his song is something as private, intimate almost, as it is a huge deal. Chanyeol's called it support mechanism, and that does sound awfully like something one builds in a relationship.  
  
"You help me out all the time," Baekhyun points out aloud, not liking where his thoughts are going.  
  
Chanyeol shakes his head. "Drop me off at home, okay?" is all he says, turning away from the metro station and in the direction of the parking lot and starting to walk again.  
  
Baekhyun falls into step with him, his head pounding. He ate too much and his stomach hurts. He thinks he knows which song Chanyeol gave to Kyungsoo, remembers finding Chanyeol playing it one morning and being pulled to sit by the piano to sing it, in nothing but boxers, pressed together. Baekhyun have loved it then, immediately, even as he wriggled off Chanyeol's lap and demanded breakfast.  
  
"That song," he starts. Chanyeol hums, looking down briefly, and Baekhyun knows he's listening. "It's a great song." It's theirs, almost. Now it's Kyungsoo's. "I'm sure they're gonna keep it once they hear Kyungsoo singing it. And it's gonna do well. I'm happy for you."  
  
"You're getting ahead of yourself," Chanyeol huffs. He seems almost flustered.  
  
"I'm not. This is what I do. The song's gonna be the hidden gem on Kyungsoo's album that everyone is going to talk about."  
  
"Baekhyun, stop, I'm not really upset anymore. You don't have to placate me."  
  
"I'm not doing that. I really mean it. This is great news, and I _am_ happy for you." Baekhyun tells himself this as much as he says it to Chanyeol. This is the important part, the one he needs to focus on. Finally, Chanyeol's letting people listen to his songs.  
  
"Okay then," Chanyeol sighs, bumping into Baekhyun. "Now keep up, it's getting really late."  
  


~

  
  
_Come over on Friday?_ Baekhyun texts Chanyeol on Wednesday, as they wrap up the last music show pre-recording. Everyone is falling on their noses. Mark's lying in the middle of the cramped floor of the dressing room, and Baekhyun wonders if he'll have to actually piggy-back him to the car. Still, there's a sense of accomplishment in the air, a hint of satisfaction on all their faces. He smiles, distributes chocolate bars like they're in kindergarten, and starts making a list of all the things he has to do till Friday. If Chanyeol says yes.  
  
_Might get late before I get out of the studio. New project._  
  
_I'll wait_ , Baekhyun types, refraining from using some winking sticker.  
  


~

  
  
When Chanyeol comes through Baekhyun's front door this time, he looks tired and soft in his favorite black hoodie. He toes off his shoes and looks around, eyes widening comically.  
  
"It looks even emptier here than the last time," he says, as he steps into the living room, his eyes roving over Baekhyun's living space. "Baekhyun, I know you like that modern minimalist feel, but it doesn't mean you can't own personal belongings."  
  
Baekhyun laughs. He hasn't talked to Chanyeol much, be it because he was so busy or because of the whole song debacle. Even now, he doesn't know if Chanyeol's composition made the cut.  
  
"I think I accidentally moved to Twilight Zone's dorm." Even if he swore he wouldn't.  
  
"But the promotions are over, right?"  
  
Baekhyun nods. His doorbell rings, and he moves to get the pizza delivery he ordered. "For now anyway," he says over his shoulder. "We're coming back in less than a month."  
  
"Oh god," Chanyeol groans from behind him. "Nothing's changed since Kyungsoo debuted, has it?"  
  
Baekhyun shrugs, puts the pizza and beer on the coffee table. At least it's clean; Baekhyun's made sure of that.  
  
"Oh, is this a movie night?" Chanyeol asks, visibly surprised. Baekhyun wonders, if just like the last time, there's lube and condoms in his back pocket.  
  
"Kind of," he nods, pointing victoriously at the rusty box next to the coffee table. "Today's entertainment menu," he snickers.  
  
It was a spur of a moment idea as his group sat, decimated and silent, the entire ride home from one of their evaluation meetings. They had been down, criticized to the bone and exhausted. Baekhyun had remembered the archive room he'd been locked in with Chanyeol weeks ago.  
  
It's ridiculous that none of SM's archive was properly digitized. Instead, hours of footage just lies there, easily accessible, and just as easy to destroy. It's boxes upon boxes of old audition tapes and CDs and trainee evaluation performances. At least they're catalogued, so it wasn't that hard to find the recordings from the year when Kyungsoo debuted. Baekhyun had hesitated, fingers running over the list of months and names it included.  
  
He ended up talking the whole box, not just Kyungsoo's CD.  
  
Kyungsoo's audition recording was a hit with Twilight Zone. "Everyone can improve. Look how far you've made it already. Your eyebrows are already almost perfect, anyway," Baekhyun said to them. He had gotten a group hug in return and felt like a mother hen.  
  
Chanyeol's like a kid, endearingly curious, as he opens the box. Kyungsoo's CD is conveniently at the top where Baekhyun returned it after he used his friend as a motivational speech substitute. Chanyeol sees the name and laughs heartily.  
  
"Kyungsoo's going to kill you," he says.  
  
"Nah, this won't even be the first time someone gets to see it. I'm pretty sure parts of it made it to his last concert VCR."  
  
"Yeah, the least embarrassing parts though," Chanyeol replies. He strolls over to Baekhyun's TV, where a PC is already set up. "You're so prepared for this. Why am I not surprised," he says cheerily as he inserts the CD and quickly sits back down. Baekhyun's already opened the pizza boxes and the first two beers.  
  
"This is not what I expected," Chanyeol says, suddenly surprised as he pulls on a slice of pizza and the CD finally boots, first shots of a large dance studio. Kyungsoo is in the first row of a group of dancing teenagers, all boys, all nervous, and most of them fumbling terribly through the steps.  
  
"It gets better," Baekhyun says, sinking deep into the couch and ignoring that Chanyeol probably wasn't talking about Kyungsoo actually not sucking too much at dancing.  
  
When Kyungsoo's singing audition comes on, Chanyeol starts wheezing. He slaps Baekhyun's shoulders as Kyungsoo bows and introduces himself into the camera, voice breaking.  
  
"He's so scrawny. And he's glaring. I bet he doesn't have his contacts on. How did he ever get picked?"  
  
"I knew you'd like this," Baekhyun only says, grinning too, but he's watched all of this not so long ago. He's more nervous than anything about what else Chanyeol may find at the bottom of the box.  
  
They dig through it; Kyungsoo's year was "strong" and there's several other debuted idols' audition they pull out and watch in amusement. Chanyeol has the box between his spread knees, flipping through the CDs in it. Baekhyun's on his second beer, hands clammy as he keeps to his side of the couch.  
  
"I think that's it," Chanyeol says, his voice full of laughter. "No one else rings a bell." He puts more CDs he's checked onto the coffee table and runs his finger along the ridges of the last row left in the box. "Wait, what?"  
  
He pulls another CD out and stares at it. "Hey, this says Byun Baekhyun." He turns the CD so that Baekhyun can see, his name scribbled carelessly in black marker, the CD case cracked. "Do you know about any namesake of yours?"  
  
"That's not a namesake," Baekhyun says.  
  
Chanyeol almost drops the CD. "What?!" His voice is loud like this, in the middle of the night.  
  
"That's my audition recording, Chanyeol," Baekhyun says. He sucks his bottom lip into his mouth, fingers curling into his t-shirt before he continues. "I auditioned the year I graduated from high school. Someone heard me practicing for college exams and I got invited."  
  
Chanyeol stares at him like he's grown a second head. "I didn't… I didn't know," he says, opening the case carefully.  
  
"We hadn't met yet, then." Baekhyun shrugs.  
  
"And you want to watch it?" Chanyeol asks carefully. He's looking at Baekhyun imploringly now, more alert and completely serious.  
  
"I figured you could. That we could, yeah." Baekhyun takes the CD from Chanyeol's hands, and Chanyeol tries to grab for his fingers, but Baekhyun's fast to pull away. He puts the CD in and goes to sit.  
  
The beginning is the same as with Kyungsoo, Baekhyun dancing enthusiastically but pretty badly to a pop song in the first row, a number placard bouncing around his neck. He's got the rhythm though. At least that's what he'd been told.  
  
He's much more confident than Kyungsoo was during the singing part, loud and proud. He sings at the top of his lungs and it's not a jaw-dropping performances by any means, but he knows he sounds better than some of the debuted SM artist ever will.  
  
The recording ends almost too soon.  
  
"You got in," Chanyeol says, not really a question. "What happened?"  
  
"I gave it up," Baekhyun says, mustering all the air of nonchalance he can at that moment. He doesn't know if Chanyeol's figured it out by now, that it's _this recording_ they're really here for tonight. If he realizes Baekhyun wants to tell him, to share this with him. Baekhyun wants to explain this even if it's not a special or a sad story. He doesn't regret it, not anymore.  
  
"Why?" Chanyeol asks, and he scoots forward, grabbing for Baekhyun's wrist. This is his way to encourage Baekhyun. Chanyeol's thumb rubs circles into Baekhyun's palm, and Baekhyun closes his eyes for a moment, weighing his words, like he's done several times since Tuesday when he'd gone back to fetch this box.  
  
"I had a boyfriend at the time," he finally says, and Chanyeol tilts his head to the side, his mouth open around a silent O. "I was nineteen, graduating from high school, liked to sing, and somehow scored an older college boyfriend. By a stroke of luck I got approached in front of my school practice room by someone from SM. Life seemed pretty great. I went in, overconfident, and not knowing what I was signing up for."  
  
"Was it too much?" Chanyeol is puzzled. "But you're working with them now."  
  
"No, that's not it. I just… I really, really liked my boyfriend, you know, and he wasn't very happy with me getting in. He didn't ask me to quit, not really, but…I'd have to break up with him eventually. That much was clear, and I figured…"  
  
"You can't be serious," Chanyeol deadpans. He withdraws his hand from Baekhyun's palm, fists clenching.  
  
"What can I say, I was young and stupid," Baekhyun shrugs. "Joongi and I broke up a few months later anyway. I ended up studying music management instead of music itself and called up one of the people that worked with fresh trainees at the time I got scouted. I managed to get an internship thanks to the guy. The rest is history, and honestly it's better this way."  
  
Chanyeol raises an eyebrow at him in doubt. Baekhyun laughs deprecatingly.  
  
"Can you imagine me being like Kyungsoo, always watching his food, tired, and having to bear with people trying to use him? Not to mention not having served at thirty. Or worrying about every fresh idol that pops out, and whether someone will buy his album in two years?" Baekhyun's seen the worst of idol life. Over and over again.  
  
"You mean basking in the limelight, singing amazing songs, charming all the variety hosts and having thousands of devoted fans worship the ground you walk on. Yeah, I totally can imagine you," Chanyeol says, counting things off on his fingers.  
  
Baekhyun shakes his head. "I didn't tell you, so you can feel sorry for me. I just," he looks down at his empty hands. He's still so tired even if his schedule has been a bit less hectic these past two days, and it weighs him down. "It's something I wanted you to know," he finishes lamely.  
  
Chanyeol's looking at him perplexed, unsure. Baekhyun finally gives up, slumps into the couch sideways and throws one leg over Chanyeol.  
  
Chanyeol follows Baekhyun's lead, sinking back into the cushions. Somehow their legs get tangled, and Baekhyun's nose is dangerously close to being buried in Chanyeol's shoulder.  
  
"So that's the story? What was probably one of your first serious boyfriends ruined one of the best life opportunities you could ever get, and you just took it as a sign to never date again and torture yourself by making other teenagers famous instead?" Chanyeol sounds agitated.  
  
"No!?" Baekhyun protests, head shooting up to scowl at Chanyeol. "I genuinely enjoy my job." Chanyeol knows this just as well as Baekhyun does. "What happened is that I learned from my mistake, found an alternative profession that fulfills me and worked hard to get where I am."  
  
He takes a deep breath before continuing. "I don't date because it's not something I've wanted since then. I'm a flirt, having fun with people suited me just fine once I got the hang of it. Conveniently enough, it meant no distractions. I've been so busy for years now; anything else wouldn't work anyway. I wouldn't know how to _make_ it work." Other than Chanyeol, Baekhyun hasn't met with any of his friends that aren't also his colleagues since two weeks before Twilight Zone's debut. "This isn't a tragic story, Chanyeol."  
  
"Then why exactly are you telling it tonight, to _me_?"  
  
Baekhyun wants Chanyeol to understand. But he can't seem to get the right words out. He's been trying to work this all out, he really has, but in the end, he still can't figure what exactly he wants. Just like he can't figure out Chanyeol, not with the way he's so warm and close one minute and distant, unreachable in the next.  
  
"I just thought we could have fun, laugh a bit, and maybe I felt a bit nostalgic," he sighs, drops his head back onto the back rest. "I'm actually kinda offended you didn't find my audition half as funny as Kyungsoo's."  
  
"It's not what I focused on," Chanyeol says, a bit annoyed still, a bit whiny. He grabs for Baekhyun's wrist again and pulls until Baekhyun's forehead finally pushes into Chanyeol's neck. "You surprised me. I still… I don't know what to say."  
  
"You don't have to say anything," Baekhyun mumbles. Chanyeol's aftershave is just a faint memory on his skin this late into the night. Baekhyun's limbs are lead heavy, and he decides against tipping his head up so he can kiss under Chanyeol's jaw.  
  
"Just to be clear. Your boyfriend was a jerk," Chanyeol says in the end.  
  
It makes Baekhyun chuckle. "Is that the lesson of this story?" he asks, the stress of the day and the relief of Chanyeol so close to him settling over him. "It was still my decision to quit though."  
  
Chanyeol's hand comes up to ruffle his hair. Baekhyun wonders if he's gonna say something, but he drifts off to sleep before anything more is said.  
  


~

  
  
Baekhyun wakes up in his bed, to the feeling of warm pressure across his back. He remembers being woken up sometimes during the night by Chanyeol, and pulled down the hallway, feet dragging, until he hit the bed. He remembers pulling Chanyeol in bed after him.  
  
Now Chanyeol's rubbing his back, his hand under Baekhyun's t-shirt, and Baekhyun doesn't want him to know he's up just yet. It feels good, half sensual and half just like the beginning of a really good massage, as Chanyeol's fingers occasionally press into the knots of muscles they find on his way across Baekhyun's back. It's too soothing to give up yet, and Baekhyun's not sure if Chanyeol would keep going if he knew he's awake.  
  
Sometimes Chanyeol still touches him like this, cuddles him with no other agenda, and keeps him close even after they're spent and sated. But there are times when Chanyeol doesn't touch, keeps the boundary between them nice and clean just like Baekhyun likes it, fun and pleasure and nothing more. Or… just like Baekhyun _used to_ like it.  
  
"I've been trying to figure out what you attempted to tell me last night," Chanyeol says then, voice low and raspy.  
  
Baekhyun shivers, can't stop the way the hairs on the nape of his neck raise and his heart rate kicks up a notch.  
  
"Is it that you think I would be a bad boyfriend? Or maybe that you'd be a bad boyfriend. Or maybe you just asked me to wait, until you're less busy perhaps, more settled in your career?"  
  
Baekhyun really doesn't know either. Probably none of those things. It just shows how bad he is at this.  
  
"I know you're awake, you know," Chanyeol whispers next, now close to Baekhyun's ear. Baekhyun still doesn't budge, keeps his face pushed into the pillow.  
  
"Will you ever be not busy enough for relationships?" Chanyeol wonders. It's like he's letting all his thoughts out, stream of unfiled ideas that hasn't been catalogued just yet. Baekhyun lets him, waits for what Chanyeol's going to say next because maybe he could figure them out.  
  
Instead Chanyeol hikes up Baekhyun's t-shirt properly and starts kissing down Baekhyun's back. When he sucks a bruise under one of Baekhyun's ribs, Baekhyun groans and doesn't even fight another full body shudder. Chanyeol smiles into his skin, and Baekhyun can imagine it, bright and victorious. He doesn't stop kissing Baekhyun though and before Baekhyun knows it, he's pushing Baekhyun's loose sweats down, over his ass. Chanyeol's teeth scrape over Baekhyun's left ass cheek and his tongue licks a stripe down Baekhyun's cleft.  
  
"Are you gonna eat me out until I admit I love you or something?" It's the first thing Baekhyun's said since last night, and his throat is dry and scratchy, his mouth still full of his own pillow.  
  
"Oh," Chanyeol perks up. He places another kiss over the curve of Baekhyun's ass, teasing. "Is that all it'd take?" He sounds almost smug. They both know exactly how much Baekhyun babbles when Chanyeol licks into him, wet and hot and so thorough. Baekhyun's cock twitches at the thought.  
  
"So cocky," Baekhyun breathes out. Chanyeol laughs against his spine then Baekhyun hears the click of a cap opening. Chanyeol already has lube ready. His fingers are cold as he rubs them over Baekhyun's rim. He's slow in pressing in though, keeps teasing with just pressure. Baekhyun keens.  
  
"Turn around," Chanyeol says eventually and nudges Baekhyun until he does. Baekhyun looks up at him, and he knows his eyes are wide and surprised when Chanyeol pushes two fingers into him with no further warning.  
  
Baekhyun's legs fall apart after that, and Chanyeol nestles between them, his fingers pressing in and out in a steady rhythm, always almost, almost _there_. Chanyeol's used his other hand to pull Baekhyun's sweats down to his knees and when Baekhyun starts moving down on his fingers, Chanyeol takes Baekhyun's cock into his mouth, just like that, lips tight and warm.  
  
Baekhyun's fingers curl into the sheets. Chanyeol gets to be overwhelming like this, sending Baekhyun into a frenzy as he writhes against Chanyeol's fingers and pushes up into his mouth, lost in the heady pleasure of it. Chanyeol encourages it, his free hand reaching up to pinch a nipple or coming around Baekhyun to squeeze at his ass. His eyes are open, looking up at Baekhyun, dark and unreadable.  
  
"Fuck, Chanyeol, more," Baekhyun whines, and Chanyeol's fingers finally, finally crook the way he knows will make Baekhyun fall apart. Baekhyun's orgasm is wrenched out of him like that, sometime later, when his eyes have watered and sweat is pooled in the crook of his neck from the way he strains against Chanyeol, who's steady, relentless, constant, driving Baekhyun mad.  
  
Chanyeol swallows, and Baekhyun watches, completely paralyzed as Chanyeol licks his cock clean. His tongue swipes into the corner of his lips where there's bit of come before he presses his fingers into Baekhyun one last time, making Baekhyun gasp, and then finally pulls them away.  
  
"Awake now?" Chanyeol asks, and he sounds as wrecked as Baekhyun feels. He kisses up Baekhyun's neck and behind his ear, and Baekhyun grabs a handful of Chanyeol's hair and pulls. Chanyeol ruts against him, his cock swollen and hot against Baekhyun's hip.  
  
"My thighs. Fuck, come on," Baekhyun gets out against Chanyeol's ear before he turns around, accidentally finding the tube of the lube as he moves from underneath Chanyeol. He grabs it and spreads a bit of it on his inner thighs.  
  
"Baekhyun, that's. You don't have to."  
  
"Just do it." Baekhyun pushes his ass back, and Chanyeol's there, pressing his chest against Baekhyun's back and wrapping a strong hand around his hips to keep him in place. Chanyeol's cock slides between Baekhyun's thighs and Baekhyun closes them tighter. With every push and pull, Chanyeol's cock brushes Baekhyun's balls and Chanyeol's hip bones bear on Baekhyun's ass. Somehow, this is something they've never done before, but it's so fucking perfect.  
  
Chanyeol's loud, moaning right into Baekhyun's ear and moving more frantic than he had allowed Baekhyun just moments ago, chasing his own orgasm. Baekhyun clings to his arms that are now both wrapped around Baekhyun's chest and waist and thinks he could get hard again like this, enjoying the feel of Chanyeol's cock sliding against his skin, Chanyeol's chest heaving against his back, his breath hot on Baekhyun's neck.  
  
"So good Chanyeol. That's it," he rasps, and Chanyeol comes, sudden and with a start, one last deep moan before he goes quiet, catching his breath and still holding Baekhyun flush against him.  
  
It takes a moment for either of them to speak.  
  
"That was…" Chanyeol starts then huffs into Baekhyun's hair.  
  
Baekhyun manages to squeeze his thighs closer together yet again, and Chanyeol's breathless moan is extremely satisfying. His own cock is half hard, but he's okay with just lying here, nestled in the post sex haze.  
  
"Amazing," he finishes Chanyeol's sentence. Chanyeol lets him go, pulls him down to lie on his back and watches him.  
  
"I haven't slept with anyone but you for almost a year now," Baekhyun blurts out, unchecked, heart pounding.  
  
Chanyeol's eyes widen and then his face falls.  
  
"I have, actually," Chanyeol says, and all the air leaves Baekhyun. "Not so long ago," he continues, ruthless. He grabs for Baekhyun's wrist though and starts rubbing his thumb over the bone there. His grip is almost painful.  
  
Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them again, his heart thumping so loud in his ears he almost doesn't catch what Chanyeol's saying.  
  
"I'm not like you, Baekhyun." Chanyeol's not looking away, doesn't look guilty, and Baekhyun can't abate the feeling of being cheated on. "I'd like to _be_ with someone eventually, have a relationship with a person if it feels right. This guy… he was interested. He was nice to me, brought me drinks and snacks to the studio all the time, stayed behind with me when I wanted to practice riffs some more. I figured I'd give it a chance. Not everything is love at first sight."  
  
"I don't want to hear about it," Baekhyun finally manages to say, pleading. This is not the reaction he expected from Chanyeol, and he doesn't think he can stomach it.  
  
"I need to say this," Chanyeol is firm, but his touch, it's soothing. He knows what he's causing yet he doesn't stop. "We had dinner. It was nice. I had fun. Then we had sex." Chanyeol bites his lip, searches Baekhyun's face, and Baekhyun doesn't know what he's seeing.  
  
"After that, he was still interested, but I realized I was not. It didn't feel right to lead him on, you know. But Baekhyun, I have every right to do that. You can't… you have to realize that."  
  
Baekhyun opens his mouth to say something, but he's mute, mouth moving, but his thoughts are too frenzied to translate into words.  
  
"I know Kyungsoo, and Sehun too, may have given you ideas about how I feel. They might not even be wrong, but that doesn't mean much in and of itself, does it? I can't let you mess me up and then leave me in the dust. The things you say, or do sometimes. They don't help."  
  
Baekhyun needs to just process this. Somehow, he needs to reign in the ache in his chest and the roaring in his head, and he needs to deal with this.  
  
"I know," he says at last. "I know."  
  
Chanyeol finally moves. He lets go of Baekhyun and slides to sit on the edge of the bed.  
  
"I should probably go," he says. He looks distressed too, his eyes sad, droopy.  
  
"Breakfast," Baekhyun mutters. "Stay for breakfast." Baekhyun should probably let him go, but it's the last thing he wants to see right now, Chanyeol walking away from him. He only has to pull himself together and try to continue their usual way.  
  
Chanyeol looks at him sharply, surprise overriding everything else. Baekhyun takes a deep breath, pressing his palm over his chest to calm down his heart.  
  
"What?" Chanyeol asks,  
  
"Just give me a second here, okay. I don't know if you noticed, but you kind of turned my body into jelly. Complete annihilation. So just let me boot up again." Baekhyun reaches for Chanyeol, flicking his chest.  
  
It somehow makes Chanyeol smile, even if it's a guarded.  
  
"I should make breakfast then," he says. "While you recuperate or something."  
  
"No," Baekhyun says sternly. "We're at my place. I'll do it." He's got this. This, at least, is familiar ground.  
  
"Are you sure about that?" Chanyeol asks, and his skepticism is teasing now. Baekhyun's chest decompresses.  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol takes a long shower. Baekhyun comes into the bathroom a little after him and rinses himself in the sink, rubbing a towel over his inner thighs. It's messy, but he'll deal with the dirty laundry later. He leaves Chanyeol alone, dresses, and goes to start on the breakfast.  
  
It's not much, but he can manage simple rice and eggs, and the dried fish he bought yesterday. He puts a kettle on for tea and opens the fridge just when Chanyeol comes into the kitchen. He pulls out a few containers and starts opening them on the counter.  
  
"You have _banchan_?" Chanyeol asks incredulously. "This might just turn out to be a delicious breakfast."  
  
"Sit down and stop being mean to me," Baekhyun says back half-heartedly. Chanyeol obeys, looking a bit contrite for just a moment, and Baekhyun works quickly. He starts to hum into the quiet that settles over them, and doesn't focus on the way Chanyeol's watching him curiously.  
  
Baekhyun has banchan, and the fish, because he may have planned this. He'd hoped to keep Chanyeol here overnight, and he just thought… He thought about how he hasn't had a proper breakfast since before Twilight Zone's debut, when Chanyeol made them for him. Baekhyun just wanted to feel like that again, when he used to sit with his meal at the table, in Chanyeol's company in his warm kitchen. It's not even about how good the food was.  
  
Baekhyun just wanted to feel the simmering enjoyment of that moment, the calm and peace, the companionship and…affection. Oh fuck.  
  
Baekhyun looks up from where he's closing the lid on the kimchi and turns around.  
  
Of course. Of course he falls in love over fucking breakfast.  
  
"You okay?" Chanyeol asks, and Baekhyun's caught him poking his chopsticks into the bean sprouts.  
  
Chanyeol smiles sheepishly, and Baekhyun grabs the last few small plates, and drops into the chair at the table.  
  
The breakfast is quiet at first. However, after Chanyeol's managed to tease Baekhyun for not being a bad chef when the food is made mostly by someone else, Baekhyun gets himself together and shares over exaggerated stories from the past crazy days of radio shows and TV recordings. He watches as Chanyeol laughs with his entire body and lets himself be kicked under the table when Chanyeol flails too much.  
  
Baekhyun tries not to talk about how nerve-wrecking it is that this time it's Baekhyun's head that will be handed on a plate to higher ups if they don't manage to solve all the mishaps he's describing. Instead he tries to up his ante, wanting to hear Chanyeol laugh more. Chanyeol can still tell that Baekhyun's worried, and it's unfair how good he is at reading and soothing Baekhyun. Somehow Baekhyun's feet end up between Chanyeol's under the table, crossed at ankles, rooting him.  
  
Chanyeol picks up after himself and helps load Baekhyun's dishwasher.  
  
"I should really go. Have to run some errands today," he says when they're done.  
  
"Yeah," Baekhyun agrees, recognizing he should let Chanyeol go, give him some space. "Me too, I should probably try to get my things back from the dorm, really"  
  
Baekhyun follows Chanyeol to the door, watches him put on his shoes. When Chanyeol turns around, his imploring eyes fixed on Baekhyun again, Baekhyun leans up and kisses his jaw. It doesn't last long, just a chaste kiss and a lingering slide of his mouth along Chanyeol's stubble.  
  
He wants to kiss Chanyeol properly, deeply, drag him back to bed, fuck him, run his hands down Chanyeol's thighs and lock them behind his back and rock like that, stay like that until both of them are wrung out and too tired to move and then do it again, let Chanyeol seep as deep into him as he can manage. He wants so many other things, but mostly he just wants Chanyeol to stay, to _be_ there. He pulls away, smiles, and opens the door.  
  
"Don't tell Kyungsoo I have his audition CD," he says.  
  
Chanyeol's eyes crinkle. "I won't, but thank you for the ammunition." He waves his phone at Baekhyun. Baekhyun remembers Chanyeol pulling it out last night, starting the CD again, and recording it. "I won't betray my sources."  
  
Baekhyun rolls his eyes. "Because Kyungsoo won't figure that one out," he says.  
  
Chanyeol laughs again. "See you?" he asks, and Baekhyun nods.  
  
"Yeah," he replies. Chanyeol turns around and leaves.  
  


~

  
  
"You're drunk," Kyungsoo says, incredulous, as he slides onto a seat across from Baekhyun. He puts down the two beers he bought on the way but keeps both of them in the circle of his hands.  
  
Baekhyun nods, and pulls at the edge of Kyungsoo's mask until at least his nose peeks out. Kyungsoo's also wearing thick glasses and a beanie that is hiding freshly dyed red, comeback hair. He really shouldn't be out in a bar less than a week before his comeback showcase.  
  
"Are you actually surprised?" Baekhyun asks, when Kyungsoo nudges his hand away, and looks down into his empty shot glass.  
  
"I suppose not. I just don't know why it's me you've been texting about loving Chanyeol all day long."  
  
"I wanted to give you a chance to tell me you were right in person. A little stress relief for you as down payment for getting drunk with me."  
  
Kyungsoo shakes his head, scratching at the hair under the wool on the back of it. It must be hot in his hat, and Baekhyun almost reaches to pull it off before he remembers he doesn't actually want Kyungsoo to get mad at him for exposing him.  
  
"I'd only gloat like that if you also told me you want to play house with Chanyeol, buy him that ill-advised puppy he's been talking about for weeks now, and eventually have like five cute babies with him."  
  
Baekhyun finally manages to flag a waiter to bring him another shot since Kyungsoo's not giving up his beers. "I can't take care of puppies with Chanyeol. I barely manage to stock up on ramyun in between schedules."  
  
Kyungsoo reaches over and pulls at Baekhyun's ear for that.  
  
"Is that really the only thing that's stopping you, Baekhyun? Because I swear if it is…" Kyungsoo trails off and lets go of Baekhyun's ear. He drinks the rest of his first beer in one go.  
  
Baekhyun rubs at his abused ear and wishes he didn't sound so pathetic even to himself. Being busy has served as one of his excuses for the longest time, but really he's managed to find quite a lot of time for screwing with Chanyeol, no matter how packed his work schedule has gotten. Chanyeol's life gets equally as busy as Baekhyun's at times anyway. When he gets a new project, often he gets stuck in recording studios for days on end. There are phones and emails to use so they don't miss each other too much, and Baekhyun realizes they could probably make it work.  
  
"I can see you getting overheated from all the thinking you're doing it, Baekhyun. Stop pouting and talk to me," Kyungsoo huffs at him, when he stays silent for a bit too long.  
  
"I haven't tried being with anyone since I was nineteen, Kyungsoo. I don't actually know how to." And when Baekhyun did try, he almost lost himself in the process, going in with too much devotion, with everything he's had, because essentially that's how he functions.  
  
"All of this," Kyungsoo throws a hand out and pushes his second beer to Baekhyun, pitying. "You should say all of this, and everything you're not telling me, to Chanyeol. That's your first step really, Baekhyun. And then you keep talking and trying."  
  
Baekhyun puts his head down on the sticky surface of their table, looking at Kyungsoo through the beer glass. Kyungsoo's face is distorted, and it's funny. Only instead of laughter, it's a pathetic half sob that comes out.  
  
"If I were Chanyeol, I wouldn't even want to date me. I'm an idiot who has no clue what to do."  
  
Kyungsoo pulls at his ear again, at least choosing his other one this time, but it's only to get Baekhyun to sit up and to look at him. Then he's rubbing it soothingly.  
  
"I can't tell you that if you go after Chanyeol, you'll live happily ever after, Baekhyun." Kyungsoo's looking him right in the eyes, and Baekhyun has to fight to keep them open, but he needs to hear this. "That will take a lot of effort. But honestly I just don't understand what's holding you back from at least trying to be with someone you're so drawn to."  
  
Baekhyun doesn't know how to reply to that. More than anything, he doesn't think he can stop himself anymore. He just hopes Chanyeol won't push him away.  
  


~

  
  
It turns out to be impossible to get Chanyeol out on a date. Admittedly, that might be because Baekhyun never tells him the suggestions for a quick lunch or a dinner or night at noreabang are date invites. Baekhyun's not entirely sure that volunteering the information would actually improve his chances. Chanyeol either cancels on him last minute or says no right away because he has other plans. The one time Baekhyun thinks it may have worked out, if he manages to act accordingly that is, Chanyeol shows up with Sehun in tow.  
  
They spend a Saturday evening by the Han River, eating street food and drinking cheap beers. At first Sehun looks at him with a knowing smugness and a bit of mockery. He seems to know what Baekhyun's been trying to do even if Chanyeol remains clueless, despite Baekhyun wearing new shoes and the jeans that look best on him.  
  
In the end, Sehun seems to take pity on Baekhyun, trying to leave early. Chanyeol insists on going with him. Baekhyun sits on the river bank for another hour, dejected and feeling sorry for himself. He just wants to talk to Chanyeol, find out if he's not getting ahead of himself when he hopes for things now. Instead, Baekhyun fails at the basic art of meeting him.  
  


~

  
  
When Chanyeol texts Baekhyun that he's planning a long night at the studio because he doesn't like the way one of his chord progressions is coming out, Baekhyun ends Twilight Zone's dance practice an hour earlier than he planned and drives across the city to where Chanyeol's working. The studio is small, just a reception, and two sound rooms. Baekhyun thinks he's going to have to text Chanyeol to get in, but what seems to be a janitor lets him in with a dismissive wave.  
  
Baekhyun rushed over here so he didn't even bring Chanyeol food or something else that would justify his sudden appearance. He figures like with everything else tonight, he'll have to wing it. He opens the door to the first sound room and discovers it's the right one, Chanyeol sitting behind the glass, on the stool next to a drumset. He has earphones on, the electric guitar plugged in, and the sound coming from the speakers on this side of the glass pane is only faint.  
  
Chanyeol looks cute concentrating like this, his nose scrunching as he forces his fingers to move up the fretboard. Baekhyun closes the door quietly and just watches for a while, until Chanyeol's focus breaks and he seems to curse at his fingers. He looks up then, and his eyes get round from surprise.  
  
"Hi," Baekhyun says, mouths exaggeratedly, because he doubts the mic is on, and Chanyeol puts his guitar down and comes out to where Baekhyun's standing.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Chanyeol asks.  
  
"Oh," Baekhyun stammers. Obviously that would be the first question. He can't just say he came to see if Chanyeol would be his boyfriend or something like that.  
  
"I figured I'd check up on you?" he tries instead. "And dinner. I didn't have any yet and I figured you didn't either, so…"  
  
Chanyeol eyes him, ruffling his own hair. "I'm not having sex with you in the parking lot this time, Baekhyunnie. I've seen cameras there."  
  
Baekhyun, despite himself, bursts out laughing. "No," he protests quickly, even as he feels his neck growing hot, remembering the last time that happened. "But I do like that's your reason. Some voyeur camera guard seeing us."  
  
"Of course you do. Meanwhile you'd probably put on a show."  
  
Baekhyun almost forgets why he's here and asks Chanyeol if he wants to try and find out. Chanyeol narrows his eyes at him like he knows.  
  
"I promise. No sex in the parking lot. Come get dinner with me. I'm sure you're doing better than you think you are and the break will help." Baekhyun steps closer to Chanyeol, reaches around him to fix the collar of his t-shirt. He contemplates leaning up and kissing Chanyeol when the other doesn't pull away, but decides against it and steps back. It's still a dirty tactic, because if Baekhyun knows something, it's that Chanyeol's still attracted to him.  
  
"Fine," Chanyeol huffs, and picks up his wallet and phone from the edge of the sound table. "I know a place nearby,"  
  
Baekhyun wants to do a victory dance, but he keeps it to wiggling his butt in excitement. "I'm starving," he says.  
  
They step out into the small reception, and Chanyeol reaches for the door, pushes the handle down. The door doesn't budge. Chanyeol presses his weight against the door. It stays in place. Now that Baekhyun thinks about it, the only light that's on is the small emergency one by the reception desk.  
  
"What the hell?" Chanyeol asks, uselessly pushing the handle down, again and again.  
  
"You have the keys, right?" Baekhyun asks him, realizing the janitor who let him in may have forgotten about them and locked the door on his way out. He can't see the vacuum cleaner or the set of buckets that had been in the narrow hall by the sound studios anymore.  
  
"No?" Chanyeol says, looking around in bewilderment. "Usually someone comes in to clean and that's my cue to leave."  
  
"I… yeah, a janitor let me in." Baekhyun may have interrupted his routine enough that the guy had forgotten all about the uncleaned sound room or the people in it.  
  
"Fuck," Chanyeol swears, trying the door one more time before striding to the reception desk and trying all the shelves. They're locked, and he moves to the sound room too, looking around, hoping to find a random set of keys.  
  
"We're locked in?" Baekhyun asks, incredulous, as he joins him in the studio. "You have to be joking," he deadpans.  
  
"Do I look like I'd be joking about being locked in places with you, Baekhyun?" Chanyeol snaps suddenly, turning to look at Baekhyun. "Because that went so well for me the last time."  
  
Baekhyun blanches at that. "Hey, I thought the make-out session was pretty great," he says, on autopilot, but regrets it immediately. "Sorry. I…"  
  
"I'm gonna try calling the owner," Chanyeol says. "I'm not in much of a mood to get my feelings crushed again." His voice is low and shaky and he turns his back on Baekhyun right away, lifting the phone to his ear.  
  
Baekhyun hears the phone ring three times before he steps closer to Chanyeol and pulls his hand down. "You won't, okay. I'm not gonna do something like that, Chanyeol."  
  
Chanyeol turns to face Baekhyun. The phone continues to ring uselessly until Chanyeol tosses it onto the small couch in the back of the room.  
  
"I don't know about that," he says, backing up so he's sitting on the armrest of the couch.  
  
Chanyeol looks almost small like this, sad and apprehensive, and Baekhyun can't help but move closer again and touch him, running his fingers through Chanyeol's messy hair. On the inside though, Baekhyun panics, wanting to calm Chanyeol down and feeling like he's failing.  
  
"I love you Chanyeol. If I can help it, there won't be any crushing happening." It comes out way too easily, and Baekhyun doesn't realize what exactly he's said until Chanyeol jerks away from him, inhaling sharply. He can't move that far away like this, but the distance he manages to put between them stings. Baekhyun doesn't know how he managed to ignore the way Chanyeol moving away makes him feel so miserable until now.  
  
"You don't know what you're saying," Chanyeol finally gets out, his fingers curled around the hem of his t-shirt. The sleeves are always too long, but Baekhyun knows that's how Chanyeol likes it, that he wouldn't really appreciate them being folded up, out of the way.  
  
"I..." This is it, there's no running away now. Baekhyun steels himself, shuffling that bit closer so he can feel Chanyeol's body heat, reassurance. "You're right. I don't. I've been trying to figure it out for days now, tried to get you to talk to me so that maybe I can understand it some more."  
  
"Baekhyun," Chanyeol says, and it's a warning.  
  
"At the risk of actually making an even bigger mess of this," Baekhyun hurries to interrupt him. "I do love you, and it's a little silly I figured it out when you were eating rice for breakfast and kicking me under the table, but that's what it is."  
  
Chanyeol looks up from his fingers, and Baekhyun reaches for him again, uncurls them and tries to hold both of Chanyeol's hands. If this was a TV drama, Baekhyun would find it ridiculous, holding hands like this, but right now, it's all he wants. He clings to the fact Chanyeol's hands slowly close around his.  
  
"You thought I was so charming, laughing at your misfortunes," Chanyeol teases, feebly, but the lilt of mischief is there. Baekhyun lets out a whining noise.  
  
"I did," he admits though because he owes it to Chanyeol, really. "And I came here today to tell you. To tell you that I love you and maybe we could go on a date. Just if you could not bring Sehun along this time." He mumbles the last part petulantly.  
  
Chanyeol snorts, but then it's quiet for a moment. Baekhyun looks at their clasped hands and feels Chanyeol use them as a leverage to move forward, so that now Baekhyun's standing right between his legs.  
  
"A date?" he asks, his fingers pushing so that they end up between Baekhyun's own, closing over Baekhyun's knuckles.  
  
"Well, Kyungsoo suggested we move in together and raise a puppy, and I almost went and bought one, this black fluffy thing--"  
  
"Baekhyunnie." Chanyeol pulls at his hand.  
  
"Right, right, I just thought the puppy would make you happy. The thing is, the date would be good, as a start. And if you don't hate it then maybe we could go on more of them. I mean Twilight Zone's coming back again, so I was thinking phone dates. Is that a thing, like phone sex?"  
  
Chanyeol laughs this time. "You seem to have thought about it a lot." He lets go of one of Baekhyun's hands and nudges his chin. It's scary to look into Chanyeol's eyes, but Baekhyun steels himself and does. They're serious, imploring and searching. Baekhyun tries to relax, tries not to hide.  
  
"I…I have, thought about it I mean."  
  
"What else have you thought about," Chanyeol asks, locking Baekhyun in place with how acute, almost pleading he sounds.  
  
"I thought about asking if maybe we could be...if we could be exclusive. I mean if you think it could be right, if it could feel...right, with me, eventually," he gets out.  
  
Chanyeol tilts his head, bites his lip, and Baekhyun's barely breathing.  
  
"So you basically don't want me to sleep with other people," Chanyeol says at last, and it's not accusing, taunting maybe, just a little.  
  
That's not what Baekhyun means. Well, not only that. Baekhyun wants to _be_ with Chanyeol, without the excuse of quick hookups. It seems, essentially, Baekhyun wants to be in a relationship with him, and he wonders if Chanyeol really doesn't see that yet or he just needs more reassurance because Baekhyun's spent an extreme amount of time being stupid and denying just that.  
  
Chanyeol pulls him back from his frantic thoughts by his palm splayed on Baekhyun's cheek. That seems encouraging enough.  
  
"Well yes, I'd like you to only sleep with me," Baekhyun manages at last. "And also I won't sleep with other people, or try to ask them out, casually or otherwise, or think of them as a potential partner for me because that's how I think of you."  
  
Baekhyun draws another deep breath. He leans into Chanyeol's touch, holds onto his hand harder before he continues. "Like I want to be there for you, with you, support you, and be a part of your life more than just a friend or a fling." He's rambling now, but Chanyeol lets him. His eyes seem to clear a bit more, and so Baekhyun doesn't even try to stop himself.  
  
"I don't know if it's going to work out. I don't even want to call it something it's not right away, but I want to try, I really do." He gets stuck on it, how much he talked about what he wants. "If that's what you want anyway," he adds. He wonders if it would be too weird to twist his head so that he can kiss the middle of Chanyeol's warm palm.  
  
"Yeah, you seem to be getting kind of ahead of yourself when it come to what I want," Chanyeol says at last. Baekhyun freezes. "Do you know you told me you love me three times today?" Chanyeol asks, non sequitur.  
  
Baekhyun blinks. Chanyeol's voice is definitely teasing now.  
  
"I can do it again, if it helps," Baekhyun offers quickly.  
  
"It might." It comes out almost a whisper this time, but so eager.  
  
"I love you," Baekhyun says. And he might have said it in panic or with agenda before but it's still true. "I'm in love with you."  
  
"Me too," Chanyeol says back and Baekhyun is struck. He may have assumed that Chanyeol likes him, but he hadn't known for sure.  
  
"So you'll go on a date with me?" Baekhyun asks stupidly, and Chanyeol laughs, the tension breaking between them just like that. Baekhyun's heart beats very, very fast but he can feel the smile pulling at his lips. Chanyeol keeps laughing in front of him, letting go of Baekhyun to slap at his shoulders. Baekhyun's a little sorry for the loss of his touch.  
  
"You're pouting," Chanyeol informs him.  
  
"Well, you haven't said yes, and it's not really that funny," Baekhyun complains, even as relief courses through him because Chanyeol's smiling at him. Then Chanyeol's legs move, and he locks his knees behind Baekhyun's back.  
  
"Kiss me and I'll think about it," Chanyeol says. Baekhyun moves so fast he actually knocks his nose against Chanyeol's jaw painfully. It doesn't stop him.  
  
The kiss is sloppy at least at first, Baekhyun trying to nip at Chanyeol's bottom lip, until Chanyeol's hand slides up Baekhyun's back and squeezes around the nape of his neck. Baekhyun sighs then and Chanyeol takes over, his tongue pushing into Baekhyun's mouth and making the kiss deeper and hotter, and so good. It takes a long while for Baekhyun to let Chanyeol pull away, chasing every attempt to do so.  
  
"So is this the moment you tell me you actually have the keys and you locked us in here on purpose?" Chanyeol asks into Baekhyun's hair. He's smiling, even as his voice gets this accusatory tone.  
  
"No," Baekhyun pushes away, pinching Chanyeol's side. "I wouldn't do that."  
  
Chanyeol pouts at him, and his mouth is red and swollen from the kiss. Baekhyun leans in to steal another one.  
  
"So no first date tonight?" Chanyeol asks.  
  
"I'm fine with that. I'm still scared shitless I'm gonna mess things up," Baekhyun blurts out.  
  
Chanyeol's face gets serious. He doesn't say anything right away, only pulls at Baekhyun, and they slide onto the couch, lying down with Baekhyun on top of Chanyeol, Chanyeol's long legs dangling off the other armrest.  
  
"What are you scared of exactly?" he asks.  
  
They need to talk about it, but it's hard, still. "That I don't actually know how to be with anyone, or that it's gonna get too hard with our jobs and expectations, or that I'm gonna lose sight of my own balance, or push you into doing things, into not doing things." With each thing on Baekhyun's list of reasons, Baekhyun clings more.  
  
"You're really serious about this," Chanyeol says, wrapping a hand around Baekhyun and moving him so that Baekhyun's hip isn't digging painfully into Chanyeol's stomach. He sounds dazed.  
  
"Yes, I mean. Like I said, let's start with a date. I don't want to rush it, but…"  
  
Chanyeol kisses him again, slow and thorough. He lingers on Baekhyun's temple, and Baekhyun thinks it should be the other way around, him making sure Chanyeol's okay and assured.  
  
"You believe me, right? I'm not messing around with you."  
  
"Which is why we'll figure it all out." Chanyeol reaches for his hand and squeezes it again. "You have to tell me these things though, okay. And I'll tell you too. Do you understand? There are no jerks in this relationship."  
  
Baekhyun's probably been a pretty big jerk to Chanyeol, but he can do better. The word _relationship_ still makes his stomach clench. Even if he knows that all the things he'd like to have with Chanyeol are part of it.  
  
"We don't have to call it that just yet," Chanyeol adds as if he knows.  
  
"One day though," Baekhyun nods and tangles his fingers with Chanyeol's where they're holding hands, relaxing against Chanyeol and sinking into him.  
  
"Works for me," Chanyeol nods and kisses him again.  
  


~

  
  
Chanyeol's stomach growls some time later, and they laugh before getting up and going on a scavenger hunt. Chanyeol tries calling people again, but it's well past midnight. They make a feast of energy bars, cereals and one yoghurt they find in the tiny fridge. Chanyeol takes pictures and threatens to post them with a caption of _first date food at it's best_ until Baekhyun wrestles for the phone and they manage to snuggle on the couch again. They're sleepy, but Baekhyun doesn't want to fall asleep. He knows he won't see much of Chanyeol in the upcoming days, and it keeps him awake.  
  
"So, I was thinking," he says when Chanyeol gets quiet and his hold on Baekhyun's waist slackens a little.  
  
"Oh no," Chanyeol groans, and his voice is raspy and low, but he's much more alert all of a sudden.  
  
"What, we're locked together in a studio, for the second time even. We can't possibly pass this opportunity up, too."  
  
"Baekhyun…"  
  
"It may never happen again," Baekhyun points out.  
  
"I'm kind of okay with that. Being locked in places with you is emotionally draining."  
  
Baekhyun frowns up at Chanyeol even if it's totally a fair observation. Chanyeol kisses his eyebrow, and Baekhyun thinks it's not a lost cause yet.  
  
"I even have lube and condoms," he says. That earns him a pinch to the stomach. "What, since we've been sleeping together I've learned it may come in handy at the most unexpected time. Like right now," he throws a hand out.  
  
"You make me sound like I'm the sex crazed one here," Chanyeol deadpans.  
  
"No, you're just open minded. Perfectly amenable to my various suggestions," Baekhyun argues, openly flirting now. "Which is why you'll actually positively consider my proposal that you ride me here on this sofa." He emphasizes his point by pushing his hips down.  
  
"Fuck," Chanyeol says, and Baekhyun can feel him shiver. Maybe this will actually work even if he started it mostly to tease Chanyeol and keep him awake. "Can't you just be content with cuddling here and maybe getting some sleep so we're not zombies tomorrow?"  
  
"I just...want to hold you," Baekhyun reasons.  
  
"Baekhyun, you're wrapped around me like an octopus."  
  
That's true, but somehow it's not enough. Baekhyun groans and presses his forehead into Chanyeol's chest.  
  
"Can't we just do it anyway? It'll give you something nice to think of when you see the couch on days you're stuck here."  
  
"And a sense of horror every time someone sits on it." Chanyeol adds. "But really Baekhyun, spill it. You really need to learn how to say what you actually mean and not wrap everything into a come on. Not that I mind the come ons, but…"  
  
"I want to be closer. I want to feel you."  
  
Chanyeol shivers again and groans this time, pulling Baekhyun into a deep kiss that makes Baekhyun dizzy.  
  
"What was that for?" Baekhyun asks when he pulls back, not too much though, just to rub his nose against Chanyeol's so he can calm down a bit.  
  
"For actually expressing how you feel about me," Chanyeol murmurs, his eyes watching Baekhyun's mouth. Baekhyun nips at Chanyeol's bottom lip playfully, the feeling of happy dizziness not leaving him. "It makes me feel appreciated," Chanyeol continues, "wanted."  
  
"I've always _wanted_ you," Baekhyun says, not giving it much thought.  
  
Chanyeol chuckles. "Come one, Baekhyun. No need to coddle me now."  
  
"Well, okay. Maybe not the same way I want you now, not from the start. But one way or another I wanted you, and I wanted to be close to you."  
  
Chanyeol moans and he's too fast as he flips them around, sitting up in Baekhyun's lap.  
  
"I have to work on resisting all your stupid ideas if we're actually going to date," he says, and Baekhyun's head spins when Chanyeol's hands reach for the buttons of his jeans.  
  
"My ideas are brilliant," he gasps, just when Chanyeol squeezes him through his boxers. He smiles up at Chanyeol and reaches a hand up to run a thumb across Chanyeol's bottom lip.  
  
"I love you," Chanyeol breathes out, and Baekhyun can't look away from the way Chanyeol is staring at him. "Now take your shirt off," Chanyeol adds as an afterthought. Baekhyun giggles as he does.  
  
When Chanyeol sinks down onto Baekhyun's cock, Baekhyun's sitting up, clutching onto Chanyeol's thighs spread on either side of him. Chanyeol's hands are holding onto the back rest behind him, caging Baekhyun in against the couch. Chanyeol uses the hold as a leverage as he moves, and Baekhyun's already too caught up in him.  
  
Chanyeol's bangs are sweaty and his eyes dark and he doesn't look away as he moves, up and down, gasping and hectic. He gets sloppier, his movements heavier, and Baekhyun pushes him until he's lying on the couch and Baekhyun can press into him. He leads Chanyeol's legs to drape around him, just how Chanyeol had done earlier that night when they talked, and leans down to mouth at Chanyeol's collarbone.  
  
Baekhyun gets lost in Chanyeol like this, as they hold each other and rock together until all he feels is Chanyeol's warmth and scent all around him, the yearning blinding, until it's all over. It's familiar, the feeling of heaviness and sated comfort. Baekhyun doesn't want to ever let go of it.  
  
"If my boss finds me here tomorrow with my ass naked," Chanyeol mumbles into his ear, weak thread unfinished.  
  
"He'll get double the butt for the trouble of coming in first," Baekhyun finishes. His body shakes with Chanyeol's laughter.  
  
When Chanyeol's laughter subsides and Baekhyun thinks he can walk again, he gets up and cleans them up the best he can with paper tissues he finds. Chanyeol's smile is droopy and tired and they curl back up on the couch. This is probably still a compromising position to be found in, but Baekhyun doesn't care. It's almost morning when he finally drifts off to sleep, long after Chanyeol, his fingers curled into Chanyeol's shirt.  
  


~

  
  
D.O. Vol. 6 GONE  
  
**[3] Tell me I'm yours 3:58**  
  
Lyrics by: Park Chanyeol  
Composed by: Park Chanyeol  
Arranged by: Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo  
Special thanks to BBH  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
